Another Cold Case
by ninz
Summary: ADDED AN EPILOGUE! COMPLETE NOW. A missing detective and a couple of cold cases helps the team reveal an outrageous secret. Sequel to ‘Cold Case’, WaTCold Case crossover, but mainly WaT. Set after ‘Safe’. Title isn’t exactly creative but still please R
1. Chapter 1

Another Cold Case

Summery: A missing detective and a couple of cold cases helps the team reveal an outrageous secret. Sequel to 'Cold Case', WaT/Cold Case crossover, mainly WaT, though. Set just after 'Safe'.

**Author's notes:** When I asked for your opinion about writing a sequel to 'Cold Case' I actually had already made up my mind to do it a long time ago, and… here it is.

I admit the title isn't exactly very creative, but I think the story isn't too bad.

I always try to make my stories logical and as real as possible, but I don't know much about working for the police or the FBI, and all the research I've done is watching lot's of 'Without a Trace' and some 'Cold Case' episodes. (A very nice way of doing research…:-)

This story is set just after 'Safe'. I don't think it's necessary to have seen the episode or read my other story (Cold Case) to understand this one, but I think it could help. While 'Cold Case' was written to explain what happened between 'Showdown' and 'Safe', this story is meant to give an explanation to what happened between 'Safe' and 'From The Ashen' and why Danny is so down at the end of one episode and then in such a good mood at the beginning of the next. (Because I don't believe it's because of Elena joining the team...;-)

**Disclaimer:** The story is completely untrue, and its characters are all invented; some of them by me, others I had to borrow from TV shows 'Without a trace' and 'Cold Case'. I'm not making any money from this.

I.

It was seven a.m. and Special Agent Danny Taylor was standing in his bathroom, naked except for his boxer shorts, staring into the mirror above the sink while he shaved. He was tired, his hair was still wet from the shower and his back was hurting. No – not really _hurting_, but very uncomfortable. Scowling, Danny paused, turned and craned his neck to get a good look at his back.

"Damn you, Jack – _thanks very much_", he mumbled as he saw the large bruise that had formed where he had made contact with the car.

As if the last evening's events didn't keep replaying themselves over and over in his mind; the boy, the bomb, him thinking for a second that he was going to die, Jack losing it and slamming him into that car… now on top of that the damn bruise on his back was going to be a painful reminder for the next few days.

For a moment Danny considered not going to work today.

Yesterday had been one of the worst days ever during his whole FBI career so far; and he couldn't remember his boss – Special Agent Jack Malone – having ever been that angry with him before. He knew, though, _why_ Jack had been angry. Danny should have listened to his orders. Looking back he couldn't even say for sure why he had done what he had done – maybe he had just not been thinking clearly? Had he wanted to prove himself, had he wanted to play the hero? Or had he just wanted to act up, like a pissed off child?

However, he hadn't been afraid – facing the boy with the bomb – and that was the part he really didn't understand, now. All he knew was that he had deserved Jack's anger.

Nonetheless it had hurt; and not just physically.

Although the physical pain was now something Danny was very aware of. He turned around again and finished shaving. When he was done he took a moment to just look over his reflection.

_Damn it, Taylor, you've looked better!_

He had tried to talk to Jack. After been paralysed for a few minutes he had followed Jack, trying to put things right. He had thought of all kinds of excuses, but none of them would work.

Danny swallowed hard when he remember the face Jack had finally pulled – a grimace, something indefinable, somewhere between anger, worry and exhaustion – when he had explained:

"_Look, Danny, I have tried. I know you have had a hard time, lately, and I have tried to help. You wouldn't let me and I've had enough."_

"_Jack, I didn't need help, I…"_

"_Save it. I don't want to hear it anymore. I told you before that I was here for you, and so did Viv, and you kept denying you needed help. I don't care anymore if you want to ruin your career or your life or whatever. Just tell me if you intend to get your head straight or not, because one more stunt like that one tonight…"_

"… _and you'll fire me?"_

"_I might not have a choice."_

Jack had nodded, almost sadly, but Danny had reacted angrily; had even tried to put up another fight. He did, however, regret that, now.

There had once been a point in Danny's life – ten years or more ago – when he had had made the decision to turn his life around. He could still remember clearly _that_ morning; when he had thrown that last bottle of Whiskey into the trash can, ready to quit that stuff forever.

It had only been a symbolic gesture, though; Danny had known he wouldn't be able to quit drinking so easily and he would need help, and he had found help and he had _sworn_ to himself that from _now on_ he was going face his problems and he was _never_ going to try push them to the back of his mind and deny them, _ever again_ – and that should he _ever_ get into a situation again where he found that he needed help he was going to _get_ help.

He didn't know how he could have forgotten that, but he had. The bruise on his back would remind him for a while.

"Well, I think you know what you've got to do, Taylor", he told his reflection in a firm voice, yet pulled a face at the mere thought of it.

He wasn't going to forget again, though.

………………

Doctor Lisa Harris was busy organizing her files when a knock on her door interrupted her. Surprised she looked up to find Special Agent Danny Taylor sticking his head cautiously through her office door. It was before eight a.m. and she wouldn't have expected anybody to come to _her_ office, first thing in the morning – let alone Danny. She motioned for him to come in. He looked bashful.

"Danny. How can I help you?"

"I… uh… I was wondering… if I could get an appointment with you… I… uh… might need your help sorting something out."

Now Lisa was really taken aback. Danny Taylor asking her for help – that was news to her. He'd had been at her office for a few sessions lately, after he had been ambushed while transporting a suspect during which his partner – Special Agent Martin Fitzgerald – had been shot. But he had been forced to attend to those by his boss – Jack Malone – and Danny had made no secret of the fact that he didn't_ want_ to be there.

"Does Jack know about this?" she inquired calmly. Maybe this was Jack's doing again, although, she had to admit, Danny's attitude seemed to have changed. She remembered the last times he had been in her office; sitting on his chair and glaring at her, sometimes in a very bad mood, but mostly just unwilling to open up to her.

"No, but I am going to inform him. As soon as I know that you will agree to see me for another…" he paused, thinking, "…maybe two or three sessions?"

"Okay, sure I do. But not now. How about this afternoon?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Three o'clock?"

"Fine."

He was almost out of the room when he stuck his head back in once more and smiled – a genuine smile that even reached his eyes. She couldn't remember him smiling like this before when she was around. "Thank you."

She smiled back. "It's my job, you know."

………………

Danny wasn't looking forward to seeing Jack, but he knew he would have to face his boss soon, because the longer he waited the harder it would become, and he was determined to make up for the attitude he had shown him over the past weeks. This wasn't just about keeping his job, he wanted to gain back Jack's trust – and _that_ would be the hard part.

Jack didn't seem surprised to find him in front of his desk that morning. He greeted Danny in a somewhat cool, emotionless voice that he wasn't used to.

"Jack, I want to apologize; I know I screwed up yesterday…"

"That's true." Jack did still not seem surprised. "But I've heard this all before, Danny, so unless you have something new to tell me…"

"Yes, there is something." Danny paused for a moment. "I just went to ask Dr. Harris for an appointment. I think I will need her help getting everything back on track. I really… I really don't understand what is wrong with me, lately, maybe she can help me figure it out."

Jack sighed. "I hope so, too, because, as I told you before, I don't know what to do any more… and, quite honestly, Danny, you _know_, I'd hate to lose you from the team."

"Yeah, I know", Danny said, feeling a little confidence flowing back into him. "The first session will be this afternoon, until then, what d'you want me to do?"

"Catch up with your paperwork."

"Okay."

Danny turned to go but Jack stopped him: "Oh – and Danny?"

"Yes?"

"You think you're a 100 percent? Physically, I mean?"

Danny sighed. He knew what Jack was talking about – and it wasn't the bruise on his back. He remembered only too vividly how he had been slammed into that car, and normally – being surprised or not – he should have been able to put up more resistance against the sudden force, but it had felt like all strength had left him and he had been helplessly exposed to Jack's anger.

He was about to tell Jack that he was fine when he remembered that morning's resolution to start facing problems – and he decided to be honest: "I don't know…"

The expression on Jack's face remained neutral but Danny couldn't shake the feeling that his boss was suppressing a smile when he told him: "Okay, so I better put you on desk duty for a while, right?"

Knowing that this was probably a test Danny just shrugged and said: "I guess I'd be okay with that."

"Fine." Now Jack almost did smile. "And another thing…"

Raising his eyebrows Danny looked at Jack, wordlessly.

"I'm going to add sixth member to the team. – And now get out of here, I got work to do and so do you."

While walking to his desk Danny felt confused. A sixth member? Because of him maybe? Was Jack maybe still planning to fire him, and have him replaced by someone new? Or was he just trying to make Danny feel threatened – so he would do better in the future? He heard a female voice call out his name and turned around to see his co-worker, Special Agent Samantha Spade, standing right before him.

"Hey", she said.

"Hey."

"I didn't expect you to be here today…"

"Why?"

"I don't know, I just… uh… saw the dispute you had with Jack last night and I… uh… – I don't know what I was thinking, actually…"

Danny gently touched her upper arm, only for a second, though, before he pulled his hand back. "Listen, Sam, I know everything's been out of control lately, and I haven't quite been myself… but that's over now, okay? Everything's gonna get back to normal…"

"So… you're doing better?"

"Yes. – Is Martin in, yet?" he tried to change the subject.

Samantha was just about to answer when Danny's cell phone rang and interrupted their conversation. It was a number he didn't know. Putting on an expression of mock annoyance and motioning for Sam to wait a moment Danny answered the call: "Taylor."

"Special Agent Taylor…" It sounded almost like a question. A male voice that seemed vaguely familiar, but Danny couldn't place it.

"This is Detective Valens with the Philadelphia Homicide Squad. I believe you know my partner, Lilly Rush?"

Now Danny was confused. "Yeah, guess, you could… uh… say so."

He had worked on a case with Detective Lilly Rush from Philadelphia only a little over a week previously, and in the process he remembered having had a short telephone conversation with her partner, Scotty Valens, too.

Thinking of Lilly made Danny smile. It had taken a while until they finally got along but in the end – when they had parted – Danny had made his mind up to call her some time and ask her out on a weekend. After all, Philadelphia wasn't _too _far away.

But being honest, he had to admit that over the events of the previous days he had forgotten about that.

"What about her?" he asked, curiously.

"I'm not sure… I think she might have tried to get in touch with you…"

"Get in touch with me?"

"Listen, I haven't got much time. Could you please tell me if you have checked your email this morning?"

"I haven't – but why would you think she'd email me?" Danny was getting impatient. Being questioned but not getting any answers himself didn't please him.

"I found her cell phone. She must have lost it last night. It was displaying your email address when I found it."

"Okay, I'll check my email, but not unless you finally tell me what's going on!"

Detective Valens hesitated a moment before finally he said: "I think Lilly's missing."

"Missing? Are you sure? How long since you or anyone's heard from her?" Danny asked, now fully on board.

"I last saw her when I left the office last night. Usually we leave about the same time, but she wanted to complete something she was working on yesterday. But…"

Danny heard something that sounding like a sigh.

"… she must have called me last night. Twice. I wasn't on duty so I switched off my phone to get a good night's sleep. I had two missed calls from her this morning and a message asking me to call back as soon as possible. When I did she didn't answer…"

"What time?"

"Huh?"

"What time did she call you?" Danny asked, impatiently.

"Around eleven p.m., I think…"

"So it's been… what? Nine hours since the last time somebody heard from her…" Danny couldn't help his voice sounding doubtfully. Nine hours didn't necessarily mean somebody was missing – especially not when that someone was a thirty-five year old woman who lived alone.

"What if she's just late for work?" He suggested although he had to admit, that this didn't sound like the Lilly Rush he'd had come to know.

"Agent Taylor, I'm not at the office, I'm in her apartment. It's a total mess, like there's been a struggle here. It looks as if she was taken or something. Look, I don't want to waste your time, I just need to see if she emailed you something important that could help me find her."

"Are you assigned to her case?" Danny asked while sitting down at his desk and switching on his computer.

When Valens answered he sound very annoyed. "No. Actually, it's not even a case, yet. I haven't reported her missing because I wanted to make sure…" he paused a moment, "…_hell_ – why am I telling you all of this?"

"Because you want my help – and that means I have a right to know what's going on. Listen, I'll call you back in a minute." Danny hung up his phone and concentrated on the computer instead.

"What's up? New case?" Sam asked. Danny hadn't noticed her following him to his desk.

"No, I don't think so", he said, absently. Looking through his inbox he was surprised to find that there _was_ a message from Lilly. He opened it.

_Danny, I know you probably didn't expect to hear from me so soon but I think I may be in trouble. I need you to help me and check if there are any missing person's reports filed between 1993 and 1998 on any of these people. I know, this isn't the way you would have liked to hear from me but I would appreciate it if you could do this for me. Thank you._

Added to that text there was a list of names none of which seemed familiar to Danny. With a sigh he shut down the computer, rose from his seat and with long quick steps he made his way to the file room. On the way he reached for his phone to call back Detective Valens.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! I _really_ hope you're having as much fun reading this as I have writing it!

II.

Detective Scotty Valens stared at the chaos that surrounded him. He had been in his partner's apartment once before but on that occasion it had been neat and tidy. Now there were drawers opened and their contents were spread all over the floor and the furniture.

Scotty walked over to the desk where Lilly's laptop would usually be but it wasn't there. He frowned; whoever had taken Lilly – _if_ she had been taken – had taken her computer too. What could be so interesting about it?

Looking over the untidy desk Scotty's eyes came to rest on a stack of paper. There was a newspaper lying on top, giving the impression that it had been read quite recently, but looking at the date Scotty noticed it was from a week ago.

Pulling a pair of latex gloves from his pocket, Scotty considered calling the office and reporting Lilly missing, but his instinct told him to have a look at the scene first. He knew that once his boss – Lt. Tom Stillman – knew about this he would keep him as far away as possible from the official investigation.

So ignoring his guilty conscious Scotty started looking through the stack of paper. There was nothing interesting. Most of them were old newspapers and a few science magazines. Scotty was surprised; he hadn't expected Lilly to be so interested in science but then again – Lilly was very intelligent and generally interested in everything, why shouldn't she be interested in reading those magazines in her free time?

After a while Scotty had to admit that he didn't have any idea what to do next. He put everything back where he had found it and got ready to leave. It was 8:30 a.m. and he was going to be late for work anyway.

He was on his way out when he heard a noise. It sounded like a whine and was coming from the kitchen. For a moment Scotty stood frozen to the spot but then he remembered; Lilly's cats! They would need to be fed! Maybe they were complaining already.

Scotty entered the kitchen and almost fell when a small and hairy something slipped past his legs; out of the room. Cursing silently Scotty looked for the feeding dishes on the kitchen floor and saw that they were filled. Actually they were overfilled so there was no reason to worry about the cats and he turned and left the house.

He was about to start the engine of his car when his cell phone rang. Checking the caller ID he knew who it was before he answered. "Valens."

"Detective Valens, it's Agent Taylor."

"Agent Taylor. Thanks for getting back to me…"

He was going to say more but Taylor interrupted him: "Let's get straight to the point. You were right, Lilly did send me an email."

_Lilly_?

Scotty was surprised. He had taken their relation to be just professional. Of course there was nothing unusual about using first names in a professional relationship, but something about the way Taylor had just said Lilly's name made Scotty suspicious. _Oh. C'mon, Valens, don't read something into this that isn't there_, he quickly told himself.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes. Sorry. So, what did she write? Anything helpful?"

Taylor hesitated a moment before saying: "Actually, it could be – yes. She was asking me for information on… uh… some old cases, and she mentioned something about being in trouble." Taylor paused and Scotty could hear him inhale deeply. "Look, Detective, I am telling you this as a favour and also because I'm worried about Lilly."

There it was again. _Lilly_. He said the name almost… _affectionately_, when normally his tone was rather cocky.

"I'm going to look through some of our old files; maybe I'll be able to work out what it is that Lilly is so interested in, but if I find out anything I'm only going to speak to whoever is officially in charge of the investigation."

"So there's nothing more you can tell me?" Scotty asked, trying to fight down the anger that was welling up inside him.

"No. Even _if_ I knew more, I couldn't tell you unless it's your case. Have a good day."

"Thank you", was all Scotty managed to say before Taylor hung up.

_Asshole_.

Now Scotty knew what Lilly had meant, when she had spoken to him on the phone the evening after she had first worked with Agent Taylor. _"He's _so_ arrogant"_, Lilly had said, and Scotty could see what had made her think that.

The funny thing was, however, after she returned from New York she had hardly even mentioned him, and when Scotty had asked her about Agent Taylor once, she had just said: _"Well, once I got to know him a little, he changed for the better."_ Her tone had been neutral and Scotty hadn't given it any more thought.

Until now.

And he was still thinking about it when he turned the key to start the engine and drove to work.

………………

From behind his desk Special Agent Martin Fitzgerald watched his co-worker Danny Taylor walking towards him while reading from a file. Although his attention was fixed on what he was reading Danny managed to walk quickly and easily sidestep anyone who crossed his path.

Watching Danny made Martin only too aware of the crutches that were leant against his desk; _his_ only way of walking at all.

Since the shooting six weeks ago nothing had been the same, and sometimes – during weak moments – Martin felt envious and almost angry at Danny for still being able to walk and move like he always had while _he_ – Martin – was forced to use the damn crutches which left him moving like a ninety year old.

It wasn't fair that Martin had almost died when Danny had walked away from it with barely a scratch; but blaming his colleague – _and friend_, Martin added as an afterthought – wasn't fair, either, and he knew it. There were moments like this when he could hardly suppress his anger about the unfairness, but, ironically, it was these moments that finally helped him understand why Danny had almost never come to visit him in the hospital or at home while he had been recovering.

Even now, when they spoke to each other, at work, it was somehow still awkward. Martin could see how uncomfortable it made Danny – even although the other man always managed to keep his expression neutral – as if he felt the need to justify to himself why he had not been hurt, but couldn't.

And then, last night, Danny had put himself into unnecessary danger. Sam had said he had almost got himself blown up.

But _why_? The Danny that Martin used to know wouldn't have done something as stupid as this, so what was up with co-worker – no, his _friend_? Was he trying to punish himself? To find some sort of justification?

Martin didn't know. It worried him as much as the whole situation angered him; and it annoyed him that he and Danny couldn't talk about it.

When Danny reached Martin's desk he looked up from his file, trying to smile his usual confident smile, but somehow it didn't convince Martin. "Morning", Danny said, stopping for a moment.

Martin did his best to smile back, but he knew that it probably wasn't convincing either. "Morning."

There was an awkward silence but Danny quickly ended it by saying: "So… uh… second day back, huh?"

"Yeah." Martin nodded.

"How're you doing?"

"Oh… uh… pretty well; considering the circumstances" Martin hesitated a moment before asking: "How 'bout you? Are you okay?"

"Fine, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Sam told me about yesterday."

For a very short moment Martin could see the corner of Danny's mouth twitching and his eyes getting darker, but then the smile was back in place, even if he did look slightly abashed: "Oh… _that_… yeah, well, that was incredibly stupid. I don't know what I was thinking. But you shouldn't worry. Nothing happened."

_Right. You shouldn't worry. Like something like this wouldn't make a friend worry_.

Instead of saying something Martin kept on smiling and nodded towards the files Danny was carrying. "New case?"

Now Danny grinned. "No. Rather old ones, actually. This one is from…" he opened the file, "… 1994. Twenty-six year old, mentally disabled woman went missing from the group home where she lived."

"So… what's it to you?"

"Oh… uh… nothing really. I was just asked for some information – by an old friend."

Watching as Danny walked over to his own desk Martin knitted his brows. Something in what Danny had said didn't ring true but he couldn't put his finger on it. Finally, with a shrug, he turned his attention back to what he had been doing before; paperwork, lots and lots of boring paperwork.

………………

Danny sat down at his desk, relieved that Martin had let him go without any more explanation. He wasn't even sure if he should be doing what he was doing, since he was supposed to be writing a report on what had happened last night.

He opened the first file, the one he had looked into earlier when he had talked to Martin. The name of the missing woman was Christina Kirkpatrick.

Danny was about to continue reading through the file when a voice behind him, made him jump. "Hey."

Sam.

"Oh – hey!" Danny turned around to smile at her, closing the file so she wouldn't see it.

"I was going to get some coffee. You want some, too?" she asked.

Coffee sounded good, but it would mean that she was going to come back to his desk again after she had gone to fetch the coffee from the break room and he didn't want that. "Yeah, coffee would be great now, but I'll come with you."

Sam nodded and went over to Martin's desk to ask him if he wanted anything.

Obviously the answer had been no, because when Sam and Danny were walking next to each other toward the break room she leant over and spoke in a low voice: "He's not the same, you know… drinks so little, eats even less…"

Danny knew what she meant and he answered, almost in a whisper as well: "It's been six weeks, Sam. You need to give him more time."

"I know. But I'm worried. He shouldn't be here if he isn't okay."

Not knowing what to say Danny just sighed and shrugged.

When they were on their way back Sam suddenly asked the question that Danny had been expecting "So… what have you been doing? It looked like you didn't want me to see."

Danny grinned. "If that's what you think, why are you asking me about it? Do you think there's any sense in that?"

"Yes. I think whatever it is I will be able to convince you to fill me in."

"Not on this one."

"Danny…"

"Okay, not _yet_. I need to talk to Jack first, okay?"

Sam nodded but the look on her face made Danny suspicious, and it quickly became clear that he was right not to trust her, because for the next hour, she stayed close to him, walking past his desk so often it made it hard for him to read through the files without being disturbed.

Finally he had enough. Sighing he pulled up a chair and placed it next to his. "Okay, fine, you win, sit down."

Sam smiled and sat next to him, looking at the file he was reading.

"Isabell Lynch", Danny informed her, "twenty-seven years old, mentally disabled and living in a group home in Queens when she went missing in 1995." He reached for another file and opened it. "Christina Kirkpatrick, twenty-six, mentally disabled, went missing in 1994, and I have found two more of those, all of them young women, mentally disabled and gone missing between 1994 and 1998."

"Hm." Knitting her brows Sam took a closer look at Isabell Lynch's file. "Did you find these in our archives?"

Danny nodded. He knew what Sam was thinking about.

"Because it says here that this case was handled by a Det. Behr with NYPD", Sam continued.

"And so was _this_ case – Joanna Albert", Danny added handing her the file. "And that's _exactly_ what's confusing me, too. If these cases weren't ours, what were they doing in our archives? Plus, they're all still open cases. It seems as if the investigation has just been abandoned at some point for no reason."

Sam shrugged. "Well, there's just one way to find out, right?" She paused and looked at Danny, a serious expression on her face. "But what made you dig them up, anyway?" She frowned, suspicion obvious in her face, and added: "Does this have anything to do with that call you got this morning?"

Danny hesitated but finally he decided to tell Sam everything he knew. "So, I guess, this is the only way I can help, since Lilly's disappearance is outside our jurisdiction", he finally ended.

"_Lilly's_?" Sam asked, grinning, but when she saw Danny's annoyed face she quickly said: "Okay so where do we start?"

"We?"

Sam's eyes shone with enthusiasm. "Of course _we_. I have nothing better to do at the moment. Those cases are still open and I don't see why we can't look at them again; and the best way to start would be to speak to this Det. Behr, right?"

Danny sighed. "I can't. Jack wants me to stay in the office all day today, and, quite honestly, I really don't think I can afford to have another argument with him right now."

"I could go then."

"Sam…"

"Don't try to talk me out of this. You know me, once I made up my mind…"

With another sigh, Danny agreed, after thinking it through. "Okay then, but talk to Jack first. I don't need him thinking we're doing this behind his back."

Sam grinned. "Will do." And off she went.

Danny watched her as she left, still wondering if he had made the right choice in telling her everything.


	3. Chapter 3

III.

She was in a small room; the only furniture comprised of a bed, a small table and a chair. It looked like guest room. There were no windows and the door was locked; there might be a chance for her to get it open, but the man was just outside, so there was no sense in trying.

Lilly could hear him walk past every now and then and sometimes, when he wasn't moving about, she could the faint sound of the TV somewhere close by

The light was turned on. The man had switched it on that morning, the first time he had walked by. Lilly lay on the bed which was relatively comfortable, she had to admit, and crossed her hands behind her head, staring at the white ceiling.

Lilly had no idea what time it was, but judging from the feeling in her stomach it was almost noon. She was hungry.

When the man had switched the light on earlier she had found breakfast by the bed. At first she didn't want it, but thinking it through she had come to the conclusion that it was better to keep up her strength. She knew it was just a matter of time before he started to question her.

The fact that it was taking him so long made Lilly nervous; from her point of view there could be only one reason why she was here, she knew too much, and he would have to find out who else knew _before_ he could kill her. _Her_ advantage.

But the question was – who else _did_ know?

Scotty? She had called him twice but hadn't dared to leave him a message explaining everything preferring to tell him in person when there was no chance that they would be overheard. This was a powerful enemy she had made and Lilly hadn't wanted to put her partner in danger.

So Scotty probably didn't know anything.

Danny? When she had heard the man in her house Lilly had been writing the email to Danny. There had been just enough time to send it and quickly shut down the computer before he came in; the next thing she remembered was waking up here.

She thought about Danny, wondering if he had got the message, but then again, he would probably just find out the information she had asked him for and send it back to her without even knowing that something wasn't right. How was he supposed to know?

It occurred to Lilly that by writing the email she may have involved Danny in this, and she could only hope that the man wasn't going to find out about it, or else Danny would probably be in danger – and he didn't even have an idea that he was.

That thought worried Lilly the most.

……………...

Scotty felt like he was being treated as a suspect as he watched Special Agent Dirk Shaw, from the FBI Philadelphia office, pace up and down in the same interrogation room where Scotty usually questioned his suspects. Shaw was a tall man in his early forties. He had broad shoulders, very short brown hair and the beginning of a bald patch on top of his head. His features were harsh as he looked down at Scotty, who was seated behind the table in the middle of the room.

"So, you were the first at the scene?" Shaw asked.

"Yes", Scotty said, trying hard not to pull a face.

"And you reported her missing?"

"That's right."

"And when you arrived you found her apartment in a mess?"

"Yes."

For a moment Shaw remained silent but he was still pacing the room. Then he stopped, right in front of Scotty, grabbed the back of his own chair and leaned on it, looking down at the other man. "So, while you were looking at that mess you came to the conclusion that she had been abducted, is that right?"

"That's right", Scotty confirmed.

"Then tell me something, Detective – when you found your partner's home in such a mess that you were convinced that she had been abducted, how come you didn't call forensics right away? Why did you to work before filing a report and waste precious time we could have used to start finding Det. Rush?"

Scotty sighed and stared at the man's face above him; it took him a lot of strength not to look away. Finally he said: "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No."

Rolling his eyes Shaw turned around and started pacing again. "Okay, so you don't know. What _do_ you know, then?"

Scotty told him about Lilly's calls the previous night and that he hadn't been able to get hold of her in the morning. He also told Shaw that he had taken a short look around her apartment.

"Okay, so you didn't call forensics but you took a look around yourself, right? Did you touch anything?" Shaw asked, rolling his eyes again before focusing them on Scotty.

"No." Scotty decided he wasn't going to tell Shaw about looking through the papers on Lilly's desk. The man already thought he was stupid and he wasn't going to give him another reason to think that.

"Okay, that's good news." Shaw looked at his watch. "I think we're done here, Detective Valens, but before I leave, let me tell you one thing; I want you to stay out of this from now on. Go and solve your twenty year old murder cases, but don't try sticking your nose into _my_ investigation, understood?"

Scotty was having trouble swallowing his anger as he said through gritted teeth. "Yes." He was about to add a sarcastic '_Sir'_, but managed to stop himself as he had something else to tell Shaw, who was already half out of the door: "There's one more thing."

Looking annoyed Shaw turned around. "Yes?"

"You should contact Special Agent Taylor in the FBI's New York, Missing Person's Unit."

Shaw's grey, piercing eyes grew darker and he closed the door again. "Why would I do that?"

Scotty sighed. This part of the conversation was not going to be enjoyable. _Well, as if _any_ of this conversation has been enjoyable at _any_ time_, Scotty thought and made himself continue quickly: "Because Lilly contacted him for information that could be related to her disappearance."

"How do you know?"

"I called him. Agent Taylor I mean. I found Lilly's cell phone with his email address displayed and I called him to find out what Lilly had wanted from him."

"So you _did_ touch something."

"The phone was lying outside on the path leading up to her house. We're lucky it was still there this morning and that nobody had stolen it."

After a long uncomfortable silence Shaw said: "So, let me get this straight, Detective. You went to Rush's apartment this morning and on the way there you found her phone in the garden. Right?"

"Yes."

"So you found her phone outside after you had called her in the morning, thinking that maybe she was in trouble."

"I never said that I thought she was in trouble…"

Shaw knitted his brows. "If you didn't think she was in trouble then why did you go to her house first thing in the morning?"

Knowing that the other man was right, Scotty just shrugged.

"You went inside and saw that there had been a struggle and instead of calling forensics so they can get a proper look at the scene and staying until they arrived, you picked up the phone, called this Agent what-ever-his-name-is to ask what your partner wanted from him – which – by the way – isn't any of your business in this case, and after that you go to work as if nothing happened before you finally decide to tell somebody about your partners disappearance. Is that true?"

"Yes", Scotty said, in a firm voice. He was not going to let himself be intimidated by this man, although he had to admit that his actions this morning really hadn't been too smart. It was as if he had acted on instinct rather than following procedure.

However, it had happened and he couldn't change it; all he could do was apologize and maybe explain himself: "I know I made a mistake. I wasn't thinking straight. She's my partner and I was worried. I'm sorry."

"I'd be sorry too, if I were you, and I can only repeat what I said before; I want you to stay away from this investigation from now on. Good day, Det. Valens."

………………

Jack looked up when Sam entered his office.

"You got a minute?"

"Yes, sit down." Jack sounded serious. "I wanted to talk to you anyway."

Raising her eyebrows in surprised Sam took a seat opposite Jack and waited for whatever her boss had to say.

"I just got a call from a Special Agent Dirk Shaw with the FBI, Philadelphia Office. He wanted to speak to Danny."

Now Sam knitted her brows. "What about?"

"Det. Lilly Rush. She is missing and it seems like she was abducted but Agent Shaw told me that before she disappeared she contacted Danny for information on some old cases of ours." Jack paused a moment, looking at Sam, with a serious expression: "Do you know anything about that?"

Hesitantly, Sam nodded. "Yes, in fact it's exactly the reason why I'm here."

"Really?"

Sam nodded.

"So Danny told you."

"Yes, but I had to make him."

"Do you have any idea why he didn't tell _me_?"

"He was going to", Sam said quickly. "I promise you, Jack, he just didn't know what to do first, but he was going to tell you."

"And yet, it's you, who's sitting in my office."

"Only because…"

"Save it, Sam, I don't want an explanation right now, especially not from _you_. Go and get Danny; I want to talk to both of you."

"Okay." Sam sighed and left Jack's office quickly. She hurried to find Danny and told him about the call Jack had received and that their boss wanted to see them both. Danny didn't look happy.

"Was he angry?"

Sam shrugged. "Hard to tell."

When they entered Jack's office their boss was on the phone. He motioned for them to take a seat and wait until he had finished his call. Finally he hung up and looked at the two of them. "That was Agent Shaw again", he explained. "He was demanding to talk to you, Danny and he didn't seem to be very happy. He thinks you're sticking your nose into something that's none of your business; he was very clear that this is _his_ investigation."

"I wasn't _sticking_ _my nose_ into that", Danny defended himself quickly. "I was just looking at some old files of ours, and I have every right to do that. I would have told him if they related to Lilly's disappearance."

Raising one eyebrow Jack's features softened for a moment. "_Lilly's_?"

Sam watched in amusement how Danny opened his mouth to say something but Jack didn't give him the chance: "Okay, never mind that now. I'm just wondering why you didn't tell me. You put me in a bit of an uncomfortable situation when Agent Shaw called me, you know? I really had now idea about all of this, so what was I supposed to say?"

"I'm sorry, Jack, I meant to talk to you about this, I just wanted to see if there was anything useful. These old files may not get us anywhere and could be just a waste of time."

"Still you should have let me decide that."

Danny remained silent and Sam watched the two men stare at each other waiting for the other one to say something.

"What are you gonna do?" Danny finally asked.

"Well, Agent Shaw made it very clear that he didn't want any involvement in this from our team."

"But Jack, he can't keep us from investigating our own cases", Sam chipped in and she couldn't keep her disgust out of her voice.

"So what would you suggest we do, Sam?"

Sam, who was now fully on board quickly started to explain: "Well we looked at the old files and there were some inconsistencies, like, for example, all four of these cases were handled by the NYPD and still we found them in _our_ archives. Why? Also there was no hint of an explanation about why the cases weren't solved; it looks like the investigations were just abandoned."

Not yet fully convinced, Jack looked at Sam, waiting for more.

"We found out the name of the detective who took a big part in the search for two of these women, and we would like to talk to him. Maybe we are going to find out some more."

Jack remained silent, looking from Sam to Danny and back. He finally rested his eyes on Danny. "You remember the conversation we had this morning?"

Danny sighed. "Yeah, I do."

"You're supposed to stay in the office", Jack said, ignoring Danny's answer.

"I could go", Sam offered. "Just give us one afternoon, alright? If anything urgent comes up, I'll be back here in no time."

Jack took his time; after what seemed like five minutes but couldn't have been more than one or two minutes he finally said: "Okay, you can take Viv with you. She's itching to get back into the field anyway. And I want you two to back in two hours time, at the latest. Understood?"

Sam nodded and left Jack's office, grinning.


	4. Chapter 4

IV.

As soon as Sam had left his office Jack turned his attention to Danny who was fidgeting in his seat. "Could you please try to sit still?" he asked and stared sternly at Danny who shrugged as he said:

"I'm sorry, but it makes me a little… nervous. I mean, she's…" He trailed off as if he didn't know what to say.

"Yes?"

"She's not just _somebody_, you know…"

"Who? Sam?" Jack asked, although he knew exactly who they were talking about.

"No, Lilly Rush."

"So there _was_ something going on between you two."

Danny looked surprised at first but then answered, reluctantly. "Yeah, well… _if_ there was, would that be so bad?"

Jack shrugged. "Depends on how you're going to handle this."

Danny looked at him questioningly, making Jack sigh before he explained: "Danny, I don't know what was between you two, and God knows I _don't_ want any _details_, but you seem nervous to me and it is understandable, even if you two were only friends. But since the… the _shooting_ you have been more edgy than ever – and I admit that it's partly my fault because I let you work full time right afterwards – but that's exactly the reason why I want to keep you in the office for a day or two, now."

"I haven't complained", Danny said.

"Not in words. Not _yet_, at least. But you will once I finished, because I am going to tell you now that I want you to finish writing your report on what happened yesterday and hand it inbefore you go for your appointment with Dr. Harris, which…" Jack paused to look at his watch, "…is in three hours, by the way."

"But…" Danny started but Jack interrupted him:

"See, I told you, you were going to complain."

"No, I wasn't."

"No?"

"No, I was just going to say that there's a lot I can do here on those cases. I mean somebody could call the homes where those women lived, see if there is any information that's interesting and that the detectives who handled those cases forgot to ask about and…"

"The report, Danny, you're writing your report, and I want it to be detailed, so it's going to take you some time. Also I would suggest you have a proper lunch break today. You're right about making some calls, though, but it doesn't necessarily have to be you who makes them, right? I'm going to get Martin working on this."

Danny didn't answer. He looked unhappy. After a moment of silence he opened his mouth to say something but Jack was faster. "Don't even think about it", he said quickly.

"You don't trust me, do you, Jack? After last night?"

"I want to, I really do, but you have to be patient and convince me by following my orders. So, go and write that report and make sure you're on time for your appointment with Lisa. Oh – and if you see Martin, send him to me and hand him those files; he will need some background information before he can start making those calls."

Danny nodded reluctantly. "Okay."

Jack watched him get up and leave his office. He looked disappointed, but there was nothing Jack could do about it; the good thing was that Danny didn't seem angry. A week ago – or even a day or two ago – they would have argued about this, so this was an improvement.

………………

"Hey."

Surprised, Martin looked up from his work so see Danny standing in front of his desk. "Hey, everything alright?"

"Yes, I just… um… – Jack wants to see you in his office."

"Oh."

"It's nothing to worry about; I think he has an assignment for you."

Martin nodded, his curiosity winning over his concern. He struggled to stand up and saw Danny look away quickly so that he wouldn't have to watch him reach for his crutches; the uncomfortable feeling was back and Martin felt sad, too, wondering if it was always going to be like this now.

Slowly and carefully Martin made his way to Jack's office. He was thankful that his boss hadn't decided to come to his desk to speak to him there; it would have made Martin feel uncomfortable being treated as if he couldn't make to his boss's office on his own.

Jack looked up from his paperwork when Martin entered and smiled. "Martin; how are you doing today?"

"'m okay", Martin lied. He had been worse, but _okay_ was far from how he felt. "Danny said you wanted to speak to me."

"That's right. Did he give you those files?"

"What files?"

"So he didn't?"

"Jack – what is this all about?"

"Sit down Martin." Jack motioned towards the chair on the opposite side of his desk. "I've got an assignment for you."

"That's what Danny said." Martin sat down carefully. He was still in pain and he couldn't hide it from Jack. His boss didn't take his eyes off him, a worried look on his face.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Gritting his teeth Martin managed a "_Yes_", that he knew didn't sound convincing, but Jack obviously accepted it.

"Okay, listen, I need you to find out some background information on four missing women. Find out as much as you can about them and see if there are any commonalities or anything out of the ordinary."

"Okay." Martin nodded. "Anything else?"

Jack smiled. "I think it's enough work for a while. I'm not even sure if going to be as easy as it sounds – those women went missing ten years ago. Ask Danny about the files and have a look at them before you start making calls."

"Ten years ago?" Martin asked, surprised, but then he thought of the conversation he had had with Danny earlier that morning. "Oh, I see – he said something about a few old cases this morning but he didn't want to tell me what it was about. Why are we investigating these cases?"

Jack hesitated a moment. "I'm not sure, but they could be related to the disappearance of a woman, a detective who works with the Philadelphia PD. Danny knows her, and I think he's very worried."

"_That's_ the reason?"

"Not the only reason", Jack admitted. "I had a call earlier from an agent from our Philadelphia office who told me to stay out of this, and… I don't know… something just didn't _seem_ right. It's just a feeling, maybe it's nothing, but having a look at this can't hurt."

Martin grinned. "If _you_ say so, then I guess that something _isn't_ right."

"I don't know… I can be mistaken. I just want to make sure we don't overlook anything. Now, I suggest you start working on it and if you got any questions go and ask Danny, he knows more about this than I do."

"Okay." Reaching for his crutches Martin got up. He could see from Jack's face that his boss had to stop himself from offering him help, but Martin was grateful that Jack didn't say anything. When he was almost out the door, he turned around once more: "About what you told me last night…"

"Don't worry about that Martin, it's not because of you. I have been considering it for a while, for a long time actually, and after last night... I have to admit that I had no idea know how badly Danny _really_ was after the ambush. He should have taken some time off, but I couldn't afford _giving_ him time off with you and Viv not being there, either. I tried to get a replacement for you but it took one week before we found somebody. So I decided we need an extra body on the team."

"You had considered it before?"

"Yes, and now I can justify the extra money it will cost. I've already received some applications; actually I'm going to see a few people for interviews this afternoon, but as I said – don't you worry, we'll be fine."

Nodding slowly Martin opened the door and walked back to his desk.

_That is – if you can call that _walking_…_

………………

Sam was trying hard to concentrate on the road but after driving in silence for five minutes curiosity got the better of her. As she had to hit she brakes at a stoplight she looked over at her colleague, Special Agent Vivian Johnson. "So… Lilly Rush…?"

Vivian turned her head towards Sam, raising her eyebrows. "What about her?"

Rolling her eyes Sam said: "Oh, c'mon Viv, you _know_ why I wanna know…"

Vivian's expression didn't change while she kept looking at Sam, waiting.

"I saw them together once when she was here in New York", Sam explained. "They seemed to get along well, but Danny says she's just a _friend_."

"So?"

"Viv! Don't tell me you don't understand my question."

"You didn't even ask a question."

Sam sighed, impatiently. "_Is_ she just a _friend_, or is there _more_ between them?"

Vivian gave a snort, lifted her hands and shrugged. "How on earth am _I_ supposed to know?"

"Oh c'mon, you know Danny better than any of us, right?"

"He's hardly going to tell me about his feelings for a woman. And I don't ask, either." Vivian smiled at Sam who couldn't hide her disappointment; "Sorry, Sam I'm afraid if you want to know you will have to ask him yourself."

The noise of a horn made both women jump. "Lights are green, Sam."

………………

Detective Behr looked to be about sixty years old, with grey unkempt hair and a bushy grey moustache. It didn't appear as if his career had progressed since he had handled the missing persons cases that Sam and Vivian wanted to speak to him about, and to Vivian it seemed that years of hard work with less than expected success had made him bitter.

He didn't greet the two agents very politely. Vivian noticed how he looked them up and down as they entered his small, untidy office.

"Take a seat", Behr said. "What can I do for the _FBI_?" The last said with such open hostility it almost made Vivian laugh. _How can you be _that_ unprofessional?_

Vivian knew it was best to come straight to the point: "We need some information from some cases you investigated ten years ago."

"Ten years ago?" Behr was obviously surprised but then he grinned. "You're kidding, right?"

"Unfortunately we're not", Sam said, and Vivian could hear the suppressed anger in her voice. "We found them in our file archives; these cases have never been solved, and we're here to find out why."

"Ladies, its _ten_ years ago – I don't remember anything from then. I'd say you're ten years late", he snorted with laughter at his own joke.

One look at Sam told Vivian that her co-worker was boiling with anger. With a small, unobtrusive gesture she motioned for Sam to contain herself and remain silent. Then she reached into her briefcase for the copies of the photos showing the two missing young women that Sam had made earlier.

"Isabell Lynch. Joanna Albert." She handed the photos to Behr and watched as his face changed into an expression of recognition. "You still don't remember, Detective? Think carefully."

"Yeah… well… I… I have to admit, I _do_ remember those two." Suddenly the cocky tone was gone and Behr stared at the photos, frozen. Finally, he gave them back to Vivian and looked from one woman to the other and back again, confusion obvious on his face. "But what do you want from me?"

"We want to know, why the investigations were dropped for no obvious reason", Vivian said, impatiently. "It says in the files that you were in charge, but it's mentioned nowhere what happened, or why you abandoned those cases."

"Why don't you just ask your own people?"

"What do you mean?" Confused, Vivian and Sam looked at each other and then, at the same time turned their heads to stare at Behr.

"I mean… _you guys took them from me!_"

"What, you mean the FBI?"

"Yeah. Well, not exactly _you_ of course, but to me you're all the same."

"Now, now, Detective", Vivian said, warningly. "Let's just stay objective, alright? Tell us the whole story."

Behr shrugged and inhaled deeply before he replied: "There isn't much to tell. All I know is that one day my boss comes in and tells me I have a new case; a mid-twenty, disabled woman's been reported missing; I should go and have a look at it. I wasn't happy about that, ya know. Missing, disabled woman – not exactly interesting…" he trailed off, pausing for a moment when he saw Sam's expression. "However", he finally continued, "told myself I was gonna have a look at it. Before I knew it, there was a second case and I figured out that they had to be related."

"Ah, so you're a genius", Sam remarked, sarcastically.

Behr gave her an angry glance. "You gonna hear me out, or what?"

"Yes, sure", Vivian quickly interjected, her voice as calm as always.

"I was following a few leads, but then, when we were finally making some progress, the Feds showed up and told us they were going to take over; like they were the only ones who could…"

"What reason?" Vivian interrupted him.

"Huh?"

Shaking her head Vivian repeated the question. "What reason did they give you for taking over?"

Behr shrugged. "Don't remember if they gave me a reason at all. I mean, I don't think I asked; Feds wanted take over _that_ case – _I_ didn't care…"

Sam was speechless, but Vivian said: "Okay. Thank you, Detective Behr. Would you excuse us?"

"Sure, whatever."

Once they were outside the office Sam exhaled, deeply before staring back at the door in disgust. "Oh my God, tell me what we just experienced wasn't true."

Vivian smiled half-heartedly. "Like a bad dream, wasn't it?"

Sam nodded. "No wonder he's never made it far. – But isn't it confusing about what he told us about the FBI taking over those cases?"

Vivian nodded. Suddenly, a strange and uncomfortable feeling in her stomach made her want to get out of that building as quickly as possible.

"You think he told us the truth?" Sam asked.

"Yes, I think he did, but I don't understand it", Vivian admitted while they were walking back to their car. "If the FBI took over the investigations, why were they dropped without a reason?"

"Well, maybe they weren't", Sam suggested. "Maybe the files are just incomplete."

Vivian looked at her, seriously. "Yeah, but that makes me wonder _why_ they're incomplete and if – maybe – there's a purpose in that…"

"You mean somebody in is hiding something?"

Vivian shrugged. "I don't know. But I got the feeling that something strange is going on here."


	5. Chapter 5

V.

Danny felt nervous as he walked quickly down the corridor towards Lisa Harris' office. When he reached the door, he hesitated a moment before he inhaled deeply, grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

Dr. Harris was sitting at her desk; she looked up from her work and smiled. "You're a bit early", she said, and Danny couldn't shake the feeling that she knew exactly how nervous he was.

"Yes I know, but I had nothing to do and I wanted to get this over with, so I came early; but I can come back in a few minutes if that's better" he offered.

Lisa Harris shook her head and motioned for him to take the seat opposite her. "No, it's alright. I was just reviewing some Patient files."

_Patients_? She actually considered him her_ Patient_?

The uneasiness the word had caused must have been visible on Danny's face because Dr. Harris quickly explained: "Don't worry, Danny. There's nothing wrong with being my Patient, it doesn't mean you're ill or something I, only that you've been through a lot and that you need to talk about it."

Danny knew that that was what this meeting was all about – otherwise she wouldn't be able to help him and _he_ had been the one _asking for help_ – but still he wasn't looking forward to it. Getting himself an appointment with her was one thing but getting over a session with her, was something completely different.

"I was going to get myself a cup of tea, would you like one, too?" Dr. Harris asked, while putting the files she had been reading away. "Or coffee, maybe?"

"Yes, coffee would be good, thanks", Danny answered hoping that with the coffee he would feel a little more relaxed.

"Okay, I'll be back in a minute."

She returned quickly, holding two cups. She handed one to Danny, then took a sip from her own before putting it down on her desk and sitting down. She gave Danny a warm smile. "How are you?"

Danny shrugged. "Okay, I'd say."

"That's good."

She just wouldn't stop smiling.

"Do you want to tell me why you're here?"

"I guess you already know that."

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you."

_Can she please stop smiling like that?_

Danny groaned inwardly. This was going to be worse than he had thought, but he had made his mind up to go through with it. He could handle her questions, he could handle opening up to her; he had to – because otherwise he would have a hard time making Jack trust him again.

Danny knew that if he was completely honest with himself, that it wasn't only Jack's trust he wanted back – the last weeks had left a huge dent in his self-confidence, and he was determined to rectify that, too.

So he took a deep breath and described in detail the ambush in which Martin had been shot and how he hadn't been able to prevent it. He told her how visiting Martin in the hospital had made him so uncomfortable that he hadn't been able to make himself visit again. .

………………

It had to be some time in the afternoon and Lilly had begun thinking that he was never going to come back, when she finally heard the noise she had been waiting for all day: The key was put into the lock and turned, the door was being opened, and Lilly found herself staring into a pair of merciless dark grey eyes.

The man was holding something and Lilly quickly realised that that something was her laptop. That could only mean that…

"Looks like the two of us have got another problem now", he said as he handed the laptop to Lilly who didn't even dare look at the screen.

"A problem?" she asked, managing to keep her voice firm.

"Special Agent Danny Taylor."

Somehow he must have managed to log on and done what Lilly had feared; he had looked through her email and must have found the one she had sent to Danny. She cursed herself for not having deleted it even though she knew there hadn't been enough time.

"Agent Taylor is not a problem, he doesn't know anything."

"Well, I guess I'd rather find that out for myself", he said. "Where can I find him?"

Lilly shrugged trying to hide her fear. "I… I don't know."

"You don't know…" The man obviously didn't believe her. "Think about it."

Lilly shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know. I barely know him, I just thought… well, it doesn't matter; I _promise_ you he has no idea of what's going on."

The man shook his head. "Gotta make sure." He walked out and locked the door again, taking the computer with him. After he had left Lilly stared at the door for a long while, a queasy feeling in her stomach.

_Damn it, Rush, now you've managed to implicate Danny into this mess! _

Lilly leaned back on the bed and covered her face with one hand. She knew that worrying didn't help; she was stuck in here – there was nothing she could do, but still she couldn't help thinking about Danny, wondering what the man might do to him once he had found him.

………………

All the time Danny had been talking Dr. Harris had just nodded, watching him closely. Finally, when he had ended she gave him an approving look and said: "Good."

"What do you mean; _good_?"

"Good, you've just told me the whole story. You haven't done that before."

"You knew the whole story."

"Yeah, but you see, it's a different thing knowing or having you talk about it."

Danny knitted his brows, confused. "We haven't even talked about it, yet."

Now Dr. Harris laughed. "You're probably expecting me to ask you how you felt during all this, aren't you?"

Danny didn't have to answer that; it was obvious.

Dr. Harris shook her head. "I won't ask you that. I've got a pretty good idea about how you must have felt; I just wanted you to talk about it without me having to push you for every detail. But you _can_ tell me how you felt, if you _want_ to."

Danny shrugged. "Not really, and there isn't much to tell, actually. I just… I guess I felt guilty because I wasn't hurt and Martin almost died and I didn't do anything to prevent it. He was driving the car and he almost got us out of there unharmed. He saved my life and thinking back now I'm grateful but at the time I didn't think I deserved to be unharmed, _he_ did, and I felt like everybody else was thinking that too and that made me angry."

"Who were angry with?"

"Dunno. Myself. Jack. Sa… Agent Spade, even Martin probably although that doesn't make sense."

Dr Harris nodded understandingly. For a while neither said a word but then she asked: "Do you want to tell me about yesterday?"

"I guess, you already know about that, too, don't you?"

"And _I_ guess you haven't really talked about _that_ to anybody, have you?"

Danny shook his head. "No."

"What happened?"

Hesitantly Danny began to describe the previous days events. When he had finished he glanced at his watch and saw it was almost 3.45 p.m. He realised that he had been talking for almost an hour.

"Why did you do it?" Dr. Harris asked.

"Do what?"

"Ignore Jack's orders? Put your life in danger?"

"I've been thinking about that since last night, Dr. Harris, and the truth is I can't tell you. Part of me thinks I did it because I felt sorry for the boy and I wanted to help him, but another part of me…" He trailed off, before the words rushed from his mouth

"… part of me just wanted to act up against Jack, and I didn't really care that I was putting my life in danger because I thought, nobody else cared either…" There. He had said it.

For a moment there was silence.

"Do you still think that?" Dr. Harris finally asked, and Danny was thankful for the neutral tone she used; not a hint of pity. He couldn't bear to be pitied right now.

"No", he answered honestly. "No, I don't think so. It's like… like I wasn't myself, yesterday. I was boiling with anger and self pity, but today it makes me feel stupid, thinking about it."

"Well, that's an improvement", Dr. Harris assured him. She sighed and looked at her watch. "I would say we're done for today, time's almost up, anyway." She looked him straight in the eyes, approvingly. "You did well today, Danny. You may not have realised it yet, but you've made great progress. Why don't we schedule your next appointment for the same time, the day after tomorrow?"

Danny nodded and got up, wiping his hands on his trousers. He hadn't felt nervous over the last hour but now he noticed his hands were sweaty and that he was finding it hard to breath normally; only when he was outside Dr. Harris' office did he felt like he could breath freely again.

It hadn't been as bad as he had thought it would be, though. She hadn't asked him as many questions as he would have expected and she had let him do most of the talking. He felt that it had done him some good and he couldn't help but smile as he made his way to the elevator.

Halfway down the corridor he glanced up and stared in amazement as he saw a tall, thin woman get into the elevator as its doors closed. He stood staring at where she had been; the long, dark hair, the way she moved… it all had seemed very familiar to him, even though he had only seen her for a second. Danny knitted his brows.

_It can't be her, Taylor, you must be mistaken. _

_Or could it be?_

………………

Sam smiled at Danny as he came walking up to the conference table with a frown on his face. "Hey."

"Hey."

She laughed at his face; the frown was still in place and he looked lost in thought. "What's wrong? You look as if you've seen a ghost."

Now Danny grinned. "Almost; just worse."

"Worse?" Sam raised her brows. "So who _did_ you see?"

"I think I just saw my ex-girlfriend… well, one of them", he explained; when he saw Sam's amused expression he quickly cut her off before she could even _start_ asking questions. "Don't even try, Sam, I won't tell you anything."

"I didn't say anything…"

"But you were going to."

Sam didn't get a chance to answer because at that moment Martin turned around from his desk so that he was looking at Sam and Danny. He was still speaking into his phone but the satisfied look on his face told his colleagues that he had probably found a lead. "Okay, thank, bye." Grinning, Martin hung up and informed them: "I've just made about fifty calls to all kinds of people. At first I thought it was senseless, but then I did find something after all."

"What did you find?" Vivian asked as she and Jack joined them.

"Well, apparently all four women went to the same ophthalmologist – a Dr. Christoph van Snyder. He shared a practice in Queens with a Dr. Louise McNamara from 1993 until 1998. I spoke to Dr. McNamara earlier; she says he left New York in 1998 to move to Philly, but that's when we lose track of him."

"Between 1993 and 1998?" Danny asked, suddenly very excited. "That's exactly the time period Lilly asked me about. She must have known that he was in New York and that he did something to the women; but what?"

"We are going to talk to that other doctor", Jack decided. "What about the other two files – the ones that weren't Det. Behr's cases?"

"Christina Kirkpatrick, went missing in 1994. The case was handled by a Det. Brendan Quinn. Apparently he retired four years ago and we haven't been able to find him yet", Vivian said. "Other than that, it's the same as in the other two cases; investigation was dropped, no obvious reason."

"And then there is Loraine Jones", Sam added. "We haven't been able to find out anything about her other than her name, her latest address and…" She held up a photo of a mid-twenty, dark-haired woman laughing into the camera. "…this picture."

"So this Dr. van Snyder apparently is our only lead", Jack said.

"_If_ we're able to find him", Martin added.

Jack nodded, thoughtfully before he started to hand out assignments: "Sam, Viv, I want you two to find Det. Quinn and speak to him. Martin, I want you to try and gather some information on this Dr. van Snyder. See if you can find out, what had happened after he moved to Philadelphia. I'm going to pay a visit to Dr. McNamara…" he hesitated a while then he inhaled deeply before he continued: "… Danny, you're coming with me."


	6. Chapter 6

VI.

It had started to rain. Jack looked over at Danny; he was sitting with his head against the window, watching the rain.

"You okay?" Jack asked, concerned.

Danny turned towards him with narrowed eyes. "Yeah; why wouldn't I be?"

"You're awfully quiet."

Danny just shrugged.

Jack considered letting it go, but the atmosphere between them bothered him. For a little while he concentrated on driving, while he tried to find the right words. "Will it be like this from now on?" he finally asked, as nothing better came to his mind.

"Like what?"

"Like this; we don't have anything to say to each other?"

"What do you expect me to say?"

Jack sighed. "Okay, I can understand that you're probably still angry at me because of what happened last night but…"

Danny shook his head. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it so he quickly interrupted Jack: "I'm not angry, I know I d-…"

"… let me finish, Danny; I was going to say that even though I can understand you're still angry – I want _you_ to try and understand _me_, too. Understand why I'm doing what I'm doing."

"What do you mean _what you're doing_? Like, giving me the impression I'm not able to do anything unless you're _there_ to watch over me?" Danny's tone was now very irritated.

"See? That's exactly the point. You keep thinking that everything I do, I do because I don't trust you, but what actually bothers me, is that _you_ don't seem to trust _me_ anymore."

Jack watched the expression on Danny's face turn from irritation to surprise as he looked over at his boss again. "What makes you think that?"

Jack snorted; "_What makes me think that_? Well, maybe it's the fact that for the last six weeks I've watched you try and make me and everybody else think that you're alright and that the damn shooting didn't have any effect on you. That just isn't true, and we both know it. I just don't see why you haven't talked to me about it."

"You didn't ask so I didn't know if…"

"Oh, I _did_, Danny, you just didn't want to hear it. I'm not saying that I didn't make any mistakes; I should have _forced_ you to take a few days off, but the truth was that with only me and Sam left we wouldn't have been able to cope. But I tried to ease the pressure on you and the whole time I hoped you would come to me for help, but you didn't. All you cared about was to prove a point that you could cope on your own."

Danny looked a bit ashamed now: "But…"

"No buts, just hear me out: I don't know why you thought you couldn't talk to me, and I doubt that you'd be willing to tell me that now, but in future I want you to tell me, if you think you're overstretched. It won't change my opinion about you being a good agent and an important member of the team, but if you ever behave like you have done over the past few weeks again, it _will_ change my mind. Understood?"

"Jack, I…"

Not willing to listen Jack shook his head and repeated: "_Understood_?"

"Yes", Danny said sheepishly and turned his head to look out of the window again.

It was still raining, but Jack didn't mind. He felt relieved.

………………

Louise McNamara was an attractive woman in her mid-forties with long, wavy dark brown hair and angular features. Only when Danny got closer did he notice that her eyes were different colours one eye was a soft green while the other was a piercing blue.

Dr McNamara must have noticed his interest because she smiled at him. "Looks strange, doesn't it? They've been like this for as long as I can remember – but that's not why you're here, I guess, so… I suggest we go through to my office."

They followed her through a big examination room and Danny was almost sure he could see an expression of horror flicker across Jack's face as he looked at all the strange instruments in the room. Danny wasn't bothered but he knew that a lot of people were very squeamish when it came to their eyes; he hadn't thought that Jack would be though.

At the other end of the room there was another door that led into a small office. Dr. McNamara smiled apologetically: "Sorry I don't have enough chairs, if you can wait a moment I'll get one from the examination room."

She returned with a third chair and they all sat down. Dr McNamara put on a pair of glasses and looked at the two men again, explaining: "I'm a little short-sighted. Not so much that I can't find my way in here without my glasses, though." She laughed before she asked: "So… what can I do for you, gentlemen?"

Jack began to explain: "Like Agent Fitzgerald told you on the phone, we're here for some information on Dr. Christoph van Snyder who…" he trailed off when it became obvious that Dr McNamara wasn't listening. Her eyes had come to rest on Danny and she was staring into his eyes.

"My God, you have _beautiful_ irises! Do you mind if I took a short look at them with my microscope?"

"Your _what_?" Danny asked, dumbfounded, although he couldn't help feeling a bit flattered at the same time, but when he saw Jack's half-annoyed but also half-amused expression he quickly said: "Dr. McNamara, we're here because a woman is missing, and every minute we're wasting can be fatal. So could you please just let us ask our questions?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry, it's just that I always get so thrilled when I see such beautiful, healthy eyes like yours." Dr McNamara sighed then she continued: "So… you want to know about Christoph van Snyder? I have to say it's been a while since I last saw him. I shared this practice with him until 1998."

"We already know that", Jack said and Danny could hear the impatience in his voice. "What can you tell us about him? What was he like when you worked together?"

"We didn't work together a lot; both of us had our own Patients. Christoph had a lot of Patients who were disabled; I don't know why; I suppose he had the patience to work with them."

"He had a lot of Patients who were disabled – mentally disabled?" Jack wanted to know.

"Yes, and they necessarily take a lot longer to examine, often up to two hours. We don't have that amount of time usually but Dr. van Snyder… he did. Maybe it was because this was…" she paused, "…his secondary line of work."

Now the agents' interest grew. "His secondary line of work? What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"Dr. van Snyder was very interested in medical research. He devoted most of his time to that, in fact he was here only three, sometimes three and a half days a week at the most; the rest of the time… I'm not sure, he didn't tell me much about it."

"So you don't know anything about what kind of research he was doing?" Jack continued questioning her.

"Not much. I know that he had a special interest in intraocular lenses."

"Intra… _what_?" Both, Danny and Jack looked at each other and then back at McNamara who didn't have to be asked before she started to explain:

"_Intraocular lenses_. Artificial eye lenses that substitute for the natural lens of the eye if that has to be removed because of a cataract disease. Dr. van Snyder was involved in a project that aimed at developing intraocular lenses which allowed the Patient to keep their ability to accommodate…" She halted and looked at the agents as it became obvious to her that neither of them knew what she was talking about; she inhaled deeply before starting to give them a more extensive explanation:

"The human eye, gentlemen, is one of the most beautiful and fascinating organs imaginable. Although the quality of the pictures it produces is low, compared to what, for example, a modern camera can offer, the human eye including its connecting parts of the brain is easily able to…"

"Dr. McNamara, the short version, please", Jack interrupted her impatiently before she could get too involved in a detailed explanation

Dr McNamara stared at him, her eyes narrowed, clearly angry that he didn't show the same level of interest in a subject that seemed to fascinate her. She took another deep breath and motioned toward a poster that hung on the wall of her little office; it showed what Danny took to be a cross section of the human eye.

"See that picture? The curved skin that covers the outside of the eye is called the cornea. It does about two thirds of the refraction of the eye; the rest is done by that part behind the iris that looks like a lens. It's called a crystalline lens and one of its main purposes is to adjust its refractive power depending upon the distance away the object is that you want to focus on. If you focus on something close the lens has to increase its refractive power so you get a clear picture. That is called accommodating."

"So…" Jack drew his eyebrows together. "… that's what those… those other lenses can't do."

Dr McNamara nodded; while she had been speaking she had been trying hard to make eye contact with Danny who had been trying just as hard to avoid her. "Of course there's a lot of research being done to make it possible to have intraocular lenses that can accommodate, but so far, none has been introduced onto the market."

"So why would you have the natural eye lens replaced by an artificial one in the first place?" Danny asked, curiously.

"Like I said; if the Patient has a cataract – that's a disease that produces a clouding of the lens, he or she would need a need new one or the clouding can partially or totally obscure their vision. I could tell you a lot more, but I guess that would be more than you need or want to know."

Jack nodded. "So, Dr. van Snyder was part of such a project?"

"Part of it? He was the leader of the project. We spoke about how close he was to achieving his goal, and I can tell you that he was pretty obsessed with it."

"Do you know if he continued with this project after he moved to Philadelphia?"

Dr McNamara shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, we haven't been in contact since he left; but judging by his dedication towards this project I'd say he must have continued it."

Jack forced a smile, but behind that Danny could see a bitterness that equalled his own feelings. They both got up from their seats and when they turned to leave, Danny almost expected Dr. McNamara to ask him again if she could take a closer look at his eyes. Fortunately she didn't say anything just kept staring at them in amazement making Danny feel strangely uncomfortable; so he was happy when finally Jack spoke.

"Thanks, Dr. McNamara, you have helped us a lot. If you think of anything else, please give me a call." He handed her his card and shook her hand after she had put the card on her desk.

McNamara nodded, "Any time; if there is anything else you need to know…"

"Thank you", Jack repeated. Danny didn't manage much more than a half-hearted smile, happy to get away from this place.

Once they were back in there car Jack turned towards Danny, bitterness now obvious on his face: "You think the same as I think?"

Danny nodded slowly. He didn't like the thought, but after what they had just been told there weren't many possible explanations of what Dr. van Snyder could have to do with the women's disappearance – _if_ they were linked to _him_. A thought came to his mind and he barely dared to ask Jack for his opinion but he had to: "Do you… do you think he chose disabled women because he thought that society would care less about them?"

Jack's answer to that was plain and simple: "Probably."

"We need to find out if van Snyder continued his project after he moved to Philly", Danny said, "and maybe why he had to move in the first place."

"Somebody around here could have found out about him", Jack suggested. "And so he had to move to continue with his experiments. But then…"

"…then somebody must have found out in Philly as well, and that someone is Lilly", Danny finished the sentence for Jack. He struggled to compose himself as a sudden anger overcame him. "It makes sense; she found out and he abducted her, and is now probably doing… things to her, too." Just the thought made him so furious he was having trouble sitting still. He wanted to say more but the ringing noise of Jack's cell phone interrupted him.

After fishing it from his jacket and looked at the display Jack tossed the phone to Danny. "It's Martin; it will definitely be about the case. You answer, I'm driving."

Danny flipped the phone open and pressed it to his ear, feeling slightly uneasy as he did so. "Martin… hi."

For a moment Martin seemed to be taken aback, but then he spoke. "Danny? Hi – uh… where… where's Jack?"

"He's driving. But you can tell me as well, can't you?"

He could hear Martin swallow once. "Yeah… sure. I uh… I've got news for you concerning Dr. van Snyder. He didn't practice in Philly but I finally found his private address."

"Thank God", Danny said. "Tell me the address. We will have to send somebody there. This doctor is a real bastard and I think he has…"

"Danny, listen", Martin interrupted him. "There was one more thing I wanted to tell you about Dr. van Snyder."

"What?"

"He's dead."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

**Author's Notes:** This was a difficult chapter – so please be nice to me if you write reviews!

Huge thanks to _Marialisa_ for helping me with my English; you're making this story possible!!!


	7. Chapter 7

I'm sorry I had to let you wait a little longer than usuallly this time. I was so busy last week with stupid things that kept from doing the important things (like writing ;-)

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and the next update should come faster again...

VII

The team sat around the conference table listening intently as Martin described what he had found out about Dr. van Snyder: "He died last week, leaving a wife. Maybe we should send somebody to speak to her."

Jack nodded thoughtfully, and then turned to Vivian and Sam. "What about Det. Quinn?"

Sam shrugged. "There is no Det. Quinn – or if there is we haven't found him yet."

Vivian nodded and added what had been on her mind for a while: "We should inform this Agent Shaw; after all, he's assigned to Det. Rush's case and I'd say this doctor is definitely linked with that."

Jack knitted his brows as he looked at her; Vivian was confused.

"I'd rather not inform him." Jack paused but when he saw Vivian's face he added: "He told us to stay out of this anyway."

"So you think we should do this behind his back?" Vivian wanted to know. "Why?"

Jack hesitated long enough to make every team member stare at him, expectantly. Finally he just shrugged his shoulders as he shook his head. "I don't know really. I just don't trust him. Something's strange about what Det. Behr said…"

"What, do you think the FBI is involved in this?" Vivian asked, disbelievingly, even though deep down she had to admit that the thought had crossed her mind before.

"I don't know; all I know is that I don't trust Agent Shaw. He was very clear that he doesn't want our participation in this and I wonder why. It makes me suspicious, that's all."

"I uh…" Martin swallowed before he admitted: "I already called the Philadelphia office. I… um… left Agent Shaw a message."

"What kind of message?" Jack asked, his voice slightly raised.

Vivian could see that Martin was nervous as he answered; he was fiddling with his cell phone: "Just… uh… just that he should get back to me."

"That's all?" Jack asked sharply.

"Yeah."

"Jack, this is ridiculous", Sam chipped in. "Do you really think…"

"I don't know what to think." Jack raised his voice as he interrupted her. He seemed nervous, but Vivian suddenly had the feeling that maybe Jack was right. It wasn't the first time he had acted on intuition, and he more often than not he was right.

"What are we going to do?" she asked keeping her voice calm. She looked around at the team members and her eyes came to rest on Danny who hadn't said a word since he and Jack had returned from their visit to Dr. McNamara's practice. "Danny, what's going on with you?"

He looked over at her and knitted his brows. "I've been thinking and I've come to the conclusion that Jack's probably right – we shouldn't trust Agent Shaw at the moment, but I know somebody who might be able to help us here – somebody who we _can_ trust."

"Trust with what?"

"Finding Mrs. van Snyder so we can speak to her; getting some more information on what that doctor's doing, and it wouldn't be a bad idea if somebody could look through the old case files there."

"FBI files?"

"No, that wouldn't be possible. But…"

"Did I understand you?" Jack asked. "You want to ask somebody for help? Unofficially?"

"Yes", Danny said without hesitation. "I want to go over there myself but we need to find Mrs. van Snyder quickly, and it will take at least two hours for us to get there."

"You're not going to Philly", Jack said in a firm voice, ignoring Danny's protest, which confused Vivian. She knew they would have to send somebody to Philadelphia and it was the kind of assignment Jack would usually to give Danny, especially given that neither she nor Martin were in a fit shape to go.

"But you _are_ going to tell me who you're planning to call", Jack added, pulling Vivian from her thoughts and making her as curious as the rest.

………………

Det. Nick Vera looked over at his younger co-worker, Scotty Valens, who was fidgeting in his seat and hadn't seemed to be getting much work done all day. Today of all days there had been no case for their team and so they were all stuck in the office doing paperwork; all except...

Nick sighed; only God knew where Lilly was – and he didn't believe there was a God. Of course there was also that bastard who had taken her. Nick couldn't help clenching his fists under the desk; he did believe in the existence of bastards – he had put enough of them in jail in his life.

The whole team had been waiting anxiously for news about Lilly but so far they had heard nothing. Nick was tired of waiting; he tried to think of something else but failed miserably. He decided to go home; or maybe go out for a beer.

"You finished, yet?" he asked Scotty, hoping his colleague would be up for a drink.

Scotty's answer consisted of a half-hearted smile and a shrug. "Yeah… well… actually I haven't achieved much…" He looked down at the stack of paper in front of him and then at his watch. "But I might as well go home now, I can't concentrate anyway."

Nick watched as Scotty started to tidy up the papers on his desk and gather his things together. He stopped suddenly and stared into space, his brows knitted. "I just wish I could do something, you know?" he said slowly.

"Yes, I can understand that. I'm feeling the same way – but it's not our case."

Scotty suggested. "Well, we could still try and find something out in our free time."

"Like what?"

With a shrug Scotty admitted: "I don't know. If only I knew what she was working on. I found all these papers on her desk when I was in her apartment this morning; I don't know if they have anything to do with a new case or if they are just for her to read; but there were these science magazines – did Lilly ever mention to you that she was interested science?"

Nick thought about it for a moment but came to the frustrating conclusion that he didn't know Lilly well at all. They weren't even friends – only colleagues and although he liked to work with her there was nothing he knew about her that would help them find her. That thought made him feel sad and he answered the question reluctantly: "No, she never mentioned anything. Do you think this could be linked to her disappearance?"

Scotty was about to answer when his cell phone rang. He frowned and seemed surprised when he looked at his phone's display.

"What?" Nick asked, curiously, but Scotty raised his hand motioning for him to wait.

"Agent Taylor..." He clearly had wanted to say more but the person on the other end of the line must have interrupted him.

Impatiently Nick waited for the call to end and tried to make something of what Scotty was saying: "Okay… you're investigating this case?... Oh, okay. So – what d'you need me for?... Alright… no, it's _not_ a problem…" – Scotty's voice was beginning to sound pissed off – "… yeah, I'll go there myself… yes, I can probably have somebody look through older files… You're coming to Philadelphia?... So, you want me to wait before I go there?... And what's _that_?... Unofficial?... No, that's okay… Yes, there's a diner just down the street from our office. We could meet there, can you make it by nine?... Good." Scotty hung up the phone and slid it into his suit pocket.

Nick opened his mouth to ask what this was all about but Scotty was quicker, looking at him with raised brows: "What are you waiting for? C'mon there's work to do."

"Work? I just thought I heard the word unofficial."

Scotty nodded. "Yes, it's unofficial work we have to do. C'mon. It's important…"

………………

From the corner of his eye Danny could see Sam looking over at him while he started the car engine and she kept staring at him as they drove out of the FBI parking lot and down the street. It didn't take long until his curiosity got the better of Danny and he glanced over at Sam who didn't look away.

"What?"

Sam grinned. "What was it I just witnessed in there? Why didn't Jack want you to go and – more importantly – how did you manage to convince him to let you?"

Now Danny was grinning, too. "Well, I can't answer the second question – that's my secret…"

Sam laughed. "Yeah, right; you probably threatened him somehow..." she joked. "But why wouldn't he let you go in the first place?"

Danny sighed. He didn't want to discuss the matter with Sam but then again, what difference would it make if she knew? "Only if you promise you won't ask any further questions, okay? I'm not in the mood right now." The grin had disappeared from his face and his tone was serious.

"Okay, go ahead."

"Jack wanted to keep me on desk duty for a few days."

"Why?" Sam asked, surprised. "Because of last night?"

Danny shrugged. "Probably. – No; _definitely_. Why does it surprise you? You said this morning that you hadn't expected me to come in at all today."

"Yeah, but you've seemed fine all day…"

"I _am_ fine, Sam and you promised you weren't going to ask questions."

"You're right; I'm sorry."

For about five minutes they drove in silence; Danny concentrating on driving through the rush hour traffic and Sam going through the notes Martin had taken about Dr. van Snyder.

"There isn't any information on van Snyder between 1998 when he moved and a few months ago. Martin's found some links to websites that Dr. van Snyder has recently published articles on and also some sciences magazines that he has been published in."

"Articles?" Danny asked while stopping at a red light. He turned around and looked at the piece of paper Sam was holding. Just thinking about that man made him feel uneasy and made his insides knot up.

"Yes, Martin says he didn't really understand what they were about – something about artificial eye lenses – it looks as if van Snyder has achieved something in this area."

"Yeah, I bet he did", Danny spat, feeling a sudden rage of anger overcome him and when the stoplight changed to green he started as abruptly as he could and took his anger out on his driving.

"Hey, be careful!" Sam warned, raising her voice and putting a gentle hand on his arm to calm him.

Danny resisted the urge to push her hand away, but as usual after a few minutes his anger was gone. He didn't have to look over to know that Sam was watching him worriedly.

"This is really affecting you, isn't it?" she asked after a while, using a tone that could almost be called _pitiful_ but Danny decided to take as _understanding_.

He knew denying it was senseless and so he answered through gritted teeth: "Yes, it does."

"And so there's another reason why Jack could have wanted you to stay at the office, huh?"

Danny shrugged. "Maybe that's exactly the reason why he let me go... Because I need to take care of this myself."

"Maybe", was all Sam said.

………………

They had been on the road for about forty-five minutes when Danny started to feel hungry. Lunch had been hours ago and all it had consisted of was a sandwich. He was just about to suggest they should stop somewhere for a bite to eat when his phone started to ring.

He fished it out of his coat pocket and answered without checking the caller ID. "Taylor."

"It's Det. Valens. I'm afraid I have bad news, Agent Taylor. We weren't able to…"

"_We?_"

"Yes, me and my co-worker; don't worry – he's trustworthy. We weren't able to find Mrs. Van Snyder anywhere. She wasn't at home and her neighbours have told us they haven't seen her all day. We even spoke to her boss."

"What did he say?"

"That Mrs. Van Snyder hasn't come to work today, and it's not because she took time off after her husband's death, so I'm afraid she's missing, too."

Muttering a curse under his breath Danny tried to think about what to do now. Usually he would have tried to get a warrant for Dr. van Snyder's house but in this case it was impossible; he sighed.

"Did you get a chance to look inside the house?"

"Yes, a neighbour gave us a key so we could make sure she wasn't inside somewhere; hurt or something. But there was nobody in the house."

Danny cursed again, louder this time. He knew that it was unlikely, but he had secretly hoped that they would find Lilly in that house. At least Valens had made some progress; maybe the man wasn't so bad after all but Danny still wasn't sure if he liked him – but that didn't matter as long as Valens proved himself trustworthy – and so far he had – and they got along well enough to work together. He cleared his throat and said: "Okay, that _is_ bad news. I think we'll have to discuss what we're going to do now. We will definitely make it to Philly by nine. – Uh… this diner, do they serve some decent food there?"

When Valens answered he could almost hear that the other man was grinning. "The food's okay. You'll find something."

"Good", Danny said and hung up. The though of food was making him even hungrier and he wasn't surprised when his stomach gave a loud growl.

Sam smiled at him, sympathetically. "We're almost there, you know", she told him.

Danny laughed. "Thank you, that's good news. Too bad it's a lie."

"Okay, you're right; we're _almost_ almost there." She was laughing now, too.

The laughter faded after a while and was replaced by silence again until out of the blue Sam suddenly asked: "So – what is there between you and Lilly Rush?"

Danny was surprised; he hadn't expected that question, and especially not as blunt as it had been. "Nothing", he answered but knew he hadn't sounded convincing.

He was right about that; Sam wasn't convinced. "Oh c'mon, you can't tell me that there wasn't at least _something_ going on between you and her when she was in New York."

"I don't think it's any of your business", Danny said, but he felt more amused than angry.

"Hey, I'm your friend right? You should be able to tell me."

"Yeah, like you ever told me anything about you and Ja…" he interrupted himself just in time, "…I'm sorry."

Sam remained silent but only for a moment then she argued: "Well, I _did_ tell you about Eric Keller, didn't I?"

Danny sighed. "Yes, you did."

"And after how you behaved when I saw him again during the Linda Schmidt case I don't even think you deserved to know that much."

"What? What d'you mean?"

Sam laughed. "Stop pretending. You deliberately embarrassed me for your own amusement and…"

"And?" Danny repeated, curious what might come next but Sam didn't say any more.

"Sam?"

Still she didn't answer.

"Sam? Is everything alright?"

"Pull over", she said, urgently.

"What?" Danny asked looking over at her.

"Pull over to the side of the road", Sam repeated. She was staring into the mirror and Danny could see her face had visibly paled. "I think we're being followed."


	8. Chapter 8

VIII.

"What?" Danny asked disbelievingly, turning his head to look in the rear-view mirror at the traffic following them.

"See that black Mercedes behind us? When you've sped up he's sped up, when you've slowed down so has he. I'm almost sure he's been following us since New York."

Danny knitted his brows. "It's not likely is it; I mean following us in a car that's as memorable as that? Sure you're not being paranoid, Sam?"

Sam didn't answer, she just stared at him. Finally, rolling his eyes, Danny sped up, watching in the mirror to see what happened; the Mercedes stayed close behind them. He heard Sam inhale as if she was about to speak; he shook his head "That doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"Yeah, right", Sam sounded pissed off.

"What the hell do you want me to do?"

"Believe me."

Danny sighed but then he had an idea. "Look, I'll take the next turn we come to and we'll see what the Mercedes does, okay?"

Sam didn't answer, just sat staring out of the window her lips pressed together, obviously still pissed off.

By the time the next turn came into view the tension in the car was almost unbearable. Danny took the turn and then glanced at the mirror and saw the Mercedes still behind them; Sam was right and Danny cursed.

"See?" Sam's voice sounded triumphant.

"Okay, you were right."

"What are we going to do?" Sam wanted to know.

Danny was relieved that she didn't want to argue about him not having believed her. He shrugged, "What do think we'll do? We'll get rid of him of course!" He could see a trace of a smile on Sam's face. "What?"

"This does all seem unreal somehow, like we're in the middle of a cheap movie." She started to giggle, "Or one of those _X_-_Files_ episodes Martin used to watch."

"You're not scared?"

"No, are you?"

Danny didn't reply, preferring to concentrate on his driving. Every now and then he glanced into the mirror, watching the Mercedes and waiting for an opportunity. His opportunity finally came when the road broadened into a multi lane highway and they approached a crossroads.

As they approached the light turned red, however instead of braking, Danny hit the accelerator, speeding through the junction as he made a left turn that only narrowly missed hitting a truck coming from the direction they were now heading in.

Horns blared as drivers swerved to avoid each other; Danny glanced at Sam. She was clutching the handle on the inside of the door so tightly her knuckles had turned white. He checked the rear-view mirror, the Mercedes was gone.

He glanced back at Sam. "You okay?"

She shot him a loaded look "You know something; that was sexy…"

………………

There was a knock on the door and Jack looked up from his paperwork to see Lisa Harris standing in the doorway of his office.

"Hey", she said as if that alone would explain her presence.

Confused, Jack raised his brows and stared at her. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"I thought that you wanted to speak to me", Lisa said as she walked across the room and took a seat opposite Jack without being asked to.

"I do", Jack said. "But I don't remember scheduling a meeting, or have I just forgotten?"

Lisa smiled. "I'm a psychologist, Jack, remember? I know what people want."

"Right", Jack said, with a trace or irony in his voice as he glanced at his own psychology degree that hung on the office wall.

If Lisa noticed the irony or the glance she didn't show it; instead she continued "I thought you might want to know how the meeting with Danny went."

"I do", Jack said, honestly.

"I think it went well. Of course I need to see him once or twice more, but he's finally managed to tell me how he really felt about the whole thing."

"Good,'', Jack really wanted Lisa to leave but he couldn't tell her that, not when just a short while ago he had practically begged her to spend time with him – as friends. Funny how that had happened, but he guessed it was because he had been feeling lonely in those days shortly after his divorce, with his family in Chicago and his co-workers too busy with their own lives to notice.

It had shocked Jack when he had realised that his team considered him more their boss than their friend. Martin and Sam not telling him about their relationship or ever saying a word once it was so obviously over; Vivian not telling him about her heart disease until it was almost too late; even Danny, who Jack had always thought would trust him, had chosen to go to Vivian rather than him for advice when his brother had gone missing.

"You seem preoccupied, Jack, is everything alright?"

Trust Lisa to try and analyze him; he must have been really desperate when he had asked her to come and have a drink with him!

"Yes, uh… sure." He paused, considering whether to ask her to leave but then he decided against it. Now that she was here he might as well ask her for her opinion on how Danny was doing, especially after he had agreed to let him go to Philadelphia.

Jack would have considered going himself, but he knew that would make the investigation official and he didn't think that was such a good idea. He had given Sam and Danny twenty-four hours to find something; if they didn't then he would close the cases again. After the two of them had left, Jack had send Vivian and Martin home.

Jack caught Lisa's eye and asked "Did Danny seem fit to work out in the field to you?"

"Doesn't this question come a little late?"

"Well I did ask you before and you said yes, when it was clearly obvious that he wasn't."

Lisa shook her head. "Not my fault. I told you then I can't help if people won't let me. You know that Danny doesn't like me; he was never going to open up to me until someone had convinced him he needed my help."

"Uh-huh…" Jack frowned to hide his relief as he saw his boss Alexander Olczyk approaching his office.

Moments later there was a knock on the door. Olczyk didn't wait for an answer and a second later he was inside, a serious look on his face. "Jack? I need to speak to you." His eyes wandered to Lisa and he was obviously going to say something, but she excused herself and left before he could.

"What can I do for you?"

"Actually I was going to talk to Agent Taylor as well. Where is he?"

Jack couldn't say why or what made him feel nervous suddenly, but he answered quickly before his nervousness could start to show: "Uh… actually since we don't have a case today I've send him home. It's almost eight."

Olczyk knitted his brows. "That's too bad. I don't suppose you could call him back in?"

"Sir…" _C'mon Jack, you should just say no. You don't need an excuse to send your people home on time._ But he was still nervous and he could only hope it didn't show.

"It's alright, Jack, but I would like to speak to the two of you first thing in the morning; let Agent Taylor know will you?" Olczyk turned to go but when he had reached the door he turned around one more time. "You should leave for the night as well since you _don't_ have a case."

When his boss was gone Jack sat behind his desk, feeling apprehensive; did Olczyk know? Should he call Danny and tell him to come back?

Leaning back in his seat Jack closed his eyes for a moment trying to work out what the best course of action was.

………………

"Here they come."

Vera's voice pulled Scotty from his thoughts and made him look up from the file he had looked through at least a dozen times in about as many minutes.

A man and a woman had just entered the diner. Scotty almost snorted, thinking that the two of them couldn't have been more obvious if they had a sign around their necks saying _FBI_. Curiously, Scotty looked the man – who had to be Agent Taylor – up and down, noticing he was better looking than he had expected; tall and slender – and Scotty couldn't help wondering if Taylor was Lilly's type. It didn't make him any more likeable as far as Scotty was concerned.

When he stood up and reached out his hand Scotty couldn't bring himself to put on a friendly face. He used a neutral tone as he introduced himself: "Agent Taylor? Hi. I'm Det. Valens and this is Det. Vera." He indicated toward his co-worker.

Taylor had an expression on his face that Scotty could only describe as a smirk as he shook Scotty's hand and he seemed as arrogant in person as he had seemed earlier on the phone. The two men shook hands and then the woman who had come with Agent Taylor spoke: "Hi, I'm Agent Spade."

After Scotty and Vera had shaken her hand they all sat down at the table and Scotty pushed the file he had been reading toward Agent Spade. "That's the only file we could find on one of the names on the list you send us, Margaret Jones. It's definitely linked with the other cases; she was found dead in the woods with her eyes taken out. There was obviously never an investigation – but I couldn't find out, why."

"Right, you couldn't find out, why", Taylor repeated and Scotty shot him an angry glance, happy when Vera stepped in smoothly to help out:

"We're pretty sure the file is incomplete – as _all_ of the files that are linked to this seem to be." He paused for a moment eyeing both agents with his usual, grouchy expression and finally asked: "Now would you mind filling us in on what you think is going on here?"

Taylor frowned. "I told Det. Valens pretty much everything we know on the phone, when we spoke earlier."

"Yeah, you said that we're looking for disabled women who were probably abducted by their eye doctor who used them for experiments", Scotty said, glancing at Taylor who was still frowning.

"I know that much", Vera said. "But, what I don't get is why you need us and why you haven't contacted your own people. I mean, as far as I know this is an unofficial meeting, isn't it?"

"It is", Taylor confirmed.

"Why?"

The two agents looked at each other and Scotty began to feel even more uncomfortable. Finally Spade leaned over the table, causing him and Vera to do the same, bringing their heads close to hers, and she spoke in a low voice: "We… have reason to believe that somebody in the FBI is involved in this. Only we don't know who it is."

The new information made both detectives speechless for a moment. Finally Scotty said: "So you hoped, this doctor's wife knew who it was."

Taylor nodded; the guarded expression he had been wearing until now crumbled and another one, one that Scotty found hard to interpret, took its place.

"I thought she might knew, where Lilly is."

Scotty couldn't help frowning when he heard the other man using his co-worker's first name again. "If she is still alive", he added, suddenly feeling sick.

This caused another moment of silence that was interrupted by the ringing of a phone. It belonged to Agent Taylor and he answered it, his voice a bit shaky. He waited a moment, listening to what the caller was saying, nodded and finally hung up.

"Jack?" Spade asked.

Taylor nodded. "He says, we will have to be back tomorrow by eight am."

"That early?"

Taylor nodded. "Olczyk wants to see me and Jack couldn't tell him where I am, so we'll have to hurry up here. Oh – and Jack's found Brendan Quinn – the detective who handled the first missing person's case; Christina Kirkpatrick. Remember? He's moved to Canada after his retirement. Jack's trying to get him on the phone but hasn't managed to yet."

Spade was about to say something, but Scotty didn't give her a chance, his curiosity and his fear for Lilly increasing with every passing moment: "What I don't understand is what you want here, now we know that we can't find Mrs. van Snyder."

Taylor looked at him. "We have to find out what Lilly knew. I'm pretty sure that the reason she is missing is that she knew too much about what was going on and my guess is that she got her information from Mrs. van Snyder. She must have been in the process of collecting evidence when she was taken; that's why she contacted me."

"And – what's your plan?" Scotty wanted to ask more but the waiter came and he just shut up automatically, despite suddenly feeling silly at his own paranoia. They all ordered their food; none of them daring to continue their conversation until the waiter was gone again.

"I say, we need to search Lilly's apartment. Maybe we can find something that will tie all these cases together."

Scotty shook his head. "Forensics have searched the whole place. We won't find anything there – especially if you're right and the FBI is involved in this. They would have made sure nobody will find anything."

"I don't think the FBI as such is involved in this", Spade suddenly said. "It's probably just one person, who is involved for a personal reason. It has to be somebody who's quite powerful, though, considering that he managed to have us followed and arranged for Agent Shaw to keep us away from the investigation."

"So you don't think Agent Shaw is involved?" Scotty asked.

Spade shook her head. "No, I think he is just following somebody's orders. It has to be somebody more influential…"

"… who has a personal interest in Dr. van Snyder's research", Scotty ended the sentence for her. "And if we find out who it is, we'll probably know where Lilly is."

"So that means we will have to run background checks on everybody in the FBI who could have the power to do all this", Spade said. She looked at Taylor and continued. "I'm going to call Jack…" she paused and suddenly a small grin appeared on her face, "… he'll probably be thrilled by this…"

"Probably", Taylor agreed, his tone ironic for a moment but then it became serious again when he added: "I think afterwards you'd better get us a place to stay tonight."

"And what about you?"

"I'm going to Lilly's apartment with Det. Valens. We might still find something." He turned to Scotty. "You ready to go?"

_Not really_, Scotty thought but he nodded and stood up.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Notes:** Okay I admit it; I had a huge writer's block to overcome with this story. I didn't think it would happen; and I hope it was the only one…

I hope you'll enjoy the chapter…

Oh – and thanks to Marialisa not only for the betaing but also for kicking my ass! ;-)

………………

They had been driving for five minutes now; Danny looked over at Valens, trying not to be too obvious as he looked the other man up and down. Det. Scott Valens was a good looking guy, obviously Hispanic, who Danny estimated was a little younger himself.

"Here we are", Valens finally said as he pulled the car over and hit the breaks. He turned his head towards Danny and knitted his brows.

"Okay", Danny said, a little uncomfortable at being caught staring. He cursed his own curiosity and got out of the car quickly. The house looked dark and deserted, but when they were about to enter – Valens had a key, for whatever reason Danny _did not want to know_ – a woman walked by and stopped to look at them.

"Is everything alright?" She was obviously a neighbour. "The place was crowded with police and all kinds of people, earlier…"

Valens turned to look at Danny and back at the woman, seemingly uncertain about what to say. Neither was Danny, but he knew that didn't have much time for explanations and so he just answered: "Everything's alright."

It was obviously the wrong answer because the woman remained where she was, hands on her hips, looking at them suspiciously. "What do you want in there? Are you friends of Lilly's?"

"Yes, we are…" Valens began to explain but Danny's impatience got the better of him and he pulled out his badge to show it to the woman.

"We really haven't got any time now", he said and pushed past Valens to enter the house. It was dark inside and only the dirty floor showed them that there had been people inside the house earlier that day. Valens, who had followed Danny inside turned on the light. He seemed a little nervous, and Danny couldn't help rolling his eyes, annoyed.

"Well, _that_ was smart", Valens finally commented, an angry tone in his voice that further tested Danny's patience.

Instead of reacting Danny decided to ignore the comment and walked through the hall. There wasn't much to see; a dark blue carpet on the floor and a sideboard that had nothing on it but a small table lamp and a stack of mail and newspapers that probably hadn't been read.

An uncomfortable feeling suddenly overcame him. He felt like an intruder; this was Lilly's house, and she hadn't invited him in. It felt different from when he searched a stranger's home. Danny suppressed a sigh and told himself firmly to pull himself together. "Where'd he get in?" he finally asked.

"Huh?"

"The man who abducted her. Where'd he get in?"

"_If_ it was a man…" Valens objected.

Danny shook his head. "It was a man. I'm pretty sure after all we know about this case, and what _I_ know about Lilly…"

Valens nodded and waited a moment before he answered: "Cellar window. He broke it and then he must have stuck his arm in to open it."

"And he didn't leave any trace?"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm sure that the forensic's team will have found trace evidence if there was any……."

"… or got rid of any that they didn't want anybody to see."

Danny couldn't stop himself sighing; a sigh that sounded loud in the silent house. He took a look around, then turning on his heels he walked into the living room. He felt a bit silly as he pulled on a pair of latex gloves, but he didn't want to leave his fingerprints anywhere. He finally found the light switch and hit it. Once the room was illuminated he saw the mess that Valens had told him about earlier that day; a lamp lay broken on the ground, so did a picture frame. Danny took a look at the picture; it showed a younger Lilly with another woman. Her sister? A friend?

A huge dirty footprint caught Danny's attention, stopping him from wondering about the picture. For a moment he thought that it could help them, but then, it could have been from anyone. As the neighbour had said; the place had been crowded with people that day. He turned to Valens and noticed that the other man was staring at the picture on the ground, too. He had become pale.

There had been a struggle in this room; Danny was sure about that, and that made him even more certain that it must have been a man who had abducted Lilly.

He was sure that Lilly had known that somebody was after her, remembering the email he had received from her and the calls she had made to Valens' cell phone, and if she had known, she must have left some kind of hint for them, or at least must have assured herself that…

"Oh, look those magazines are still here", Valens pulled Danny back from his thoughts.

"What magazines?" Danny asked, knitting his brows as he looked at the other man. He was thankful that Valens was wearing gloves, too, when he held up a magazine.

"Science magazines, about medical science. This one has an article about ophthalmology. That must be it! I remember wondering this morning why Lilly would read them, she must have been doing research on this doctor…"

With two long steps Danny walked over to snatch the magazine out of Valens' hand, ignoring Valens' angry glare "We have to read that, maybe the answer is in there."

"I know", Valens said. "But there are more of them."

"Well, I guess it's going to be a long night."

And neither of them was looking forward to it.

………………

Martin had had the telephone receiver in his hands several times and had put it back. He had made himself something to eat but hadn't eaten it. He had tried to watch TV but had but found that he couldn't sit still even though his body ached from head to foot.

After a while he had reached for the phone again. This time he had dialled the number. He listened to the sound at the other end and after just three rings there was a clicking noise then a female voice:

"Fitzgerald."

"Mum, it's me."

"Martin? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Mum." That was a lie, but talking about him wasn't what he had in mind when he had made the call, he could only hope that the lie had sounded convincing enough to make his mother believe it. "I need to speak to Dad."

"Your father isn't at home tonight, honey. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Martin sighed. "No. I was just wondering…" He hesitated. Was it a good idea to tell his mother what he wanted? "… never mind. It's about work. Can you tell Dad that I need him to call me back?"

"Yeah, sure, but it will be late. Would it be alright if he called you back in the morning?"

Martin sighed. "Yeah… okay. Thanks Mum." He was about to hang up.

"Martin?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure, you're alright?"

"Yes. Sure." Another lie, but he had become good at lying. Lying to his mother that he was feeling okay and not hurting anymore. Lying to Jack that he was okay with the fact that there was a new agent going to be on the team – probably because of him. Lying to Danny that he didn't mind that he had never visited him in the hospital or at home during the last six weeks. Lying to himself that he had overcome his recent fear of going back to work. Lying to…

_No._ All these thoughts weren't going to help him and he knew it.

With difficulty Martin got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen to put his untouched plate of food into the fridge. After that was done he went into the bathroom where he kept his painkillers. He took one, along with half a glass of water, then he brushed his teeth and finally went to bed, hoping that there would be no dreams tonight.

………………

Something was disturbing her. _For God's sakes, was it too much to ask for a little bit of sleep after a long day_?

Sam groaned as she finally recognised the sound of her mobile phone beeping and vibrating. She reached out to grab the damn thing and when she looked at the display it took her a while until she was able to focus enough to see that it was only five am.

_Damn that asshole Olzcyk_. Why did he have to see Danny? At eight am? And why couldn't Jack just tell him…

_Oh._

Suddenly Sam was wide awake. Of course; they were here unofficially, and yet, it was obviously no secret to whoever they were working against.

Suddenly it all came back to Sam; the Mercedes that had followed her and Danny yesterday, the meeting with the two detectives, the call she had made to Danny after she had found a hotel and had got them each a room, him telling her about some magazines he was going to bring back to the hotel to look through for any hints about what had happened to Lilly.

And the call from Jack that they would have to be back in New York by eight am, which was probably part of the plan to keep them away from the investigation. Not by Jack of course, but maybe Olzcyk was somehow involved?

But soon Sam came to the conclusion that in this case probably even Olczyk was just following somebody else's orders, somebody who knew that the team was close to getting him; and they would, either now or later. An evil grin spread across Sam's face at that thought.

Although it was still five in the morning. _No, ten past five now_, Sam corrected herself in thoughts. _The perfect time to get up and catch one of the bad guys_.

Fifteen minutes later Sam was showered and dressed in fresh clothes from her overnight bag that she kept in the office for situations like this, and got ready to leave. She was so full of energy that she didn't even realise that funny smell that came from the clothes, probably from staying that that bag under her desk for too long. She packed her bag, left the room untidy and unlocked and made her way over to Danny's room. She knocked.

There was no answer.

Sam knocked again, almost sure that he was probably still fast asleep after spending the whole night up looking for new clues. She called out his name. Still no answer.

_Damn it!_

Sam was about to go to the reception to get another key but first decided to try the door, and it turned. The door was unlocked. Sam knitted her brows; she hadn't expected this. Maybe Danny had checked out or maybe he hadn't come back to the hotel at all? But then where was he? If he hadn't come he would have called her, but there had been no missed calls on her phone that morning.

Hesitantly Sam opened the door and stepped in. It was dark inside; the light was turned off and the curtains were still closed. Sam turned to find the switch when opposite the door another door opened, a figure entered and a moment later the light was turned on. Sam gasped and made the other person jump.

"Danny!"

"Oh, it's you…"

For a moment they were just staring at each other – shocked. Sam's eyes travelled up and down Danny's body; he was completely naked except for a small towel wrapped around his waist. Judging by his wet hair he had obviously just come out of the shower, which would also explain why he hadn't heard her call him. What she didn't understand was why she hadn't heard the water running.

Embarrassed she tried to find something to say: "Oh, erm… sorry… I was just…"

Now that his shock was gone, Danny was grinning at her and Sam guessed that he was enjoying every bit of this. _Bastard!_ Here she was, stammering, and he didn't seem the least bit embarrassed!

_Pull yourself together, Samantha!_

"You left the door open, so I came in", she finally managed to say a full sentence.

Now Danny stopped grinning. He knitted his brows. "No, I didn't."

Sam shrugged. "The door was open."

"But I locked it I'm sure", Danny said adamantly. Turning around he walked over to the bed and just caught the towel in time when it almost slipped as he bent over to look for something under the bed. Sam couldn't help but stare. She had never seen Danny in less than a t-shirt and jeans before and although she had to admit that this was a little more than she had ever hoped to see she wasn't complaining. And he was busy searching for something which gave her the opportunity to run her eyes over him once again; until they came to rest on the big bruise that covered most of his right shoulder blade. It looked still fresh and she couldn't help a gasp that escaped her, but Danny didn't seem to notice.

"What's happened to your back?"

"Nothing", came the reply from almost under the bed.

But Sam knew. "That was Jack, wasn't it?" she asked.

Danny didn't answer. Finally he stood up and looked at Sam. Ignoring her question he told her: "The magazines that I took from Lilly's apartment… they're gone. Someone took them."

Sam just stared at him. She knew what this meant, but couldn't make herself believe it until Danny put it into words:

"Somebody was in here last night."


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Notes:** Happy New Year:-D

That's all I have to say this time, except for: Enjoy the story! ;-)

X.

"How could anybody have come into your room without you hearing them?" Sam asked as she settled her herself into the driver's seat of their car.

"I don't know…" Danny mumbled. He was sitting in the passenger seat – completely dressed now, _thankfully!_ – his head resting against the window and his eyes closed. He looked exhausted.

"You didn't get much sleep last night, did you?" Sam asked with sympathy. She knew that he had probably spent most of the night looking through those magazines.

She didn't get an answer. Danny just shrugged and Sam continued: "But somebody must have watched you, I mean us, the whole time… or else, they wouldn't have managed to steal those magazines from your room during the short time you were sleeping."

Danny opened his eyes and looked at her, his expression a bit annoyed, although Sam couldn't tell if he was annoyed by her talking or the fact that he felt guilty for what had happened in the night. Finally he said: "I slept about two and a half hours; that's more than enough time to go in there and get those damn magazines." His tone made it clear that he was really pissed off.

"Okay, fine! Whatever." Sam raised her hands and shrugged. "This is getting a little bit scary now… don't you think?"

"U – huh", Danny mumbled and closed his eyes again.

Sam sighed. "Okay, let's get going. We're late, anyway – it's almost six."

Five minutes into their journey Sam decided that they were not so late that they didn't have time to grab a coffee. They were driving past a little coffee shop and it looked inviting enough to Sam, so she pulled over. She took a look at Danny, but he was obviously asleep – and he still was when Sam returned to the car a couple of minutes later with a huge plastic cup of coffee and donuts for both of them. He didn't wake as she slipped back into the car and hastily started to drink her too hot coffee.

The drive back to New York was boring; Danny was still dosing in the passenger seat and hadn't stirred since they had left Philadelphia, and there wasn't much she could do except worry about what danger they might be in and that was something she didn't want to think about. She turned on the radio in an attempt to take her mind from these thoughts, and reached for the food.

Jack had called at around seven asking where they were. She had told him that they were going to be on time but that she was driving and couldn't speak. Danny hadn't wished to speak to their boss either; when he had heard Sam talking to Jack on the phone he had merely groaned without even bothering to open his eyes.

They were now about half an hour away from the office and Sam checked the time to see that they were probably going to make it in time, which was good, considering that the relationship between Jack and Danny was strained to say the least.

She was about to try and wake Danny up when his cell phone started to ring and did the job for her. Danny took a long time to fish the phone from the pocket of his coat; he looked at it and raised his eyebrows, surprised.

"Martin. Hi… Well, that's some news… Yeah, I think I've heard the name before… where does he live?… Shit; you're telling me that now?… Yes… Well, I bet Jack's gonna love it… Nah, never mind, its not your fault. Thanks anyway man, I really appreciate it." Danny ended the call and put the phone back into his pocket; then he turned to Sam, suddenly wide awake and excited. "That was Martin", he informed her.

"I gathered. What did he want?"

Danny sighed, looking half guilty, half amused. "I'm afraid I got some bad news for you, or rather for Jack."

Sam was confused. She shook her head and was about to ask, but Danny was quicker:

"Turn around."

"What?"

"Turn the car around, we have to go back to Philly", Danny ordered while dialling a number on his cell phone.

"Who're you calling?"

Danny grinned. "Our new friend; Det. Scott Valens."

………………

Jack looked at his watch and sighed. Hadn't Sam said that they would be back in time? It was five past eight now and luckily Olczyk hadn't arrived yet, but neither had Danny or Sam. Deciding that he had waited long enough Jack picked up the phone and dialled Sam's number. He couldn't even have said why he was calling her when it was Danny he was waiting for but something told him that he would be more successful speaking to Sam.

There was something about this whole thing that was making Danny behave irrationally. He had no idea whether it was still some after effect of the shooting he had been involved in – although Jack found that a little hard to believe – or if it was because of _who_ was missing.

However, Jack was happy to know that Sam was with Danny so she could keep him from doing something stupid.

_And maybe get him into the office some time soon!_ he thought.

"Spade."

"Sam, where the hell _are_ you?"

There was a long silence then he heard a deep sigh at the other end of the line.

"Sam?"

"You're not gonna like this." Sam's sounded hesitant. "Jack, we were almost there when Martin called and… well, we think we might know where she is."

"Who?"

"Well, Lilly Rush of course." Sam paused, then she added: "Look, I tried to talk some sense into Danny and tell him we could send somebody there but he wouldn't listen… which I can understand by the way, since he and…

"Sam, you're making me nervous", Jack interrupted Sam's excited explanation. "Now, where are you?"

"We're on our way back to Philly."

"What? What the hell…? Sam!"

"I know. But Martin called. He spoke to his father on the phone and his father said that he knows somebody who knows this van Snyder, and Danny read an article last night about that doctor, and the same person Martin spoke about was mentioned in it, too. And I bet if you call that Detective _what's-his-name_, in Canada, he'll tell you who gave the order to drop the investigation on that missing woman and…"

"Sam, hold on. Who is it?"

"Can't say yet. We need to be sure. Jack, please…"

Shaking his head although Sam couldn't see Jack asked: "What am I supposed to tell Olczyk? He'll be here in… Damn… he _is_ here."

"Just tell him, we're stuck in traffic or think of something… please."

Jack was about to say something but his boss was already standing in the doorway, looking at him curiously. Jack moaned inwardly, but he had sent Danny and Sam out on this unofficial assignment and so he had put himself into this mess, or least it was partly his fault. Now he would have to think of something to tell the obviously suspicious Olczyk.

"Morning Jack. Where's Agent Taylor?"

………………

It was half past nine when Special Agent Dirk Shaw finally made it into the office. He was in a miserable mood; this case had so far been a series of dead ends. He was wondering why he had got the case, anyway. They had experts for missing persons cases but Shaw wasn't somebody who would complain, especially if finding a missing detective might be able to benefit his career the way he guessed it would.

_If_ he found her.

And so far it didn't look like he would. Plus, there were those agents from New York sniffing around, although he couldn't say for sure if they still were. He had been very clear on the phone, after all. He didn't need help with this.

"Special Agent Shaw?" a thin voice asked from behind him, and he turned around to look into a pair of blue eyes that belonged to a pale young man.

"Yes, that's me", Shaw growled.

The younger man seemed uncomfortable, even more so when he said: "Agent Willis wants to see you in his office, Sir…"

"What? Now?"

"Yes, Sir…"

"Okay." He gave the other man another curious look – _What's a guy like him doing working for the FBI, anyway?_ – and then he made his way to his boss' office. Being honest he felt uncomfortable himself now, as there was no good news he could give to his boss.

He knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a loud voice barked from inside and Shaw had to tell himself to pull himself together before he opened the door and walked in.

"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Yes, Agent Shaw. Sit down."

Shaw did as he was told.

"Any news on Det. Lilly Rush?"

"No Sir, not so far."

"Well then you should be happy that I've got news."

"Has she been found?"

Agent Willis shook his head. He always reminded Shaw a little bit of the actor – _Bruce Willis_ – and not just because of the name; the appearance and even the voice was amazingly similar. "No, but it seems we have two more missing persons, and their cases seem to be related to Det Rush's."

"What? Who?"

"Special Agents Samantha Spade and Danny Taylor from the New York office. They were last seen yesterday afternoon in their office before leaving for Philadelphia and their boss claims he hasn't seen or heard from them since…"

"Excuse me Sir, did you just say they were on their way to Philadelphia?"

"That's right, Shaw."

"But I made myself very clear on the phone that I didn't want them to stick their noses into this case…"

"I know, and that's exactly what their boss, Agent Malone, has told us. Now, before you say anything, just listen to me; we now have reason to believe that Agents Spade and Taylor are somehow involved in the disappearance of Detective Rush."

Shaw opened his mouth to say something but didn't know what, and so he closed his mouth again. But Willis wasn't finished:

"Luckily for us we know what kind of car they are using and we also know the index number, and it seems that the local police have spotted their car at this address." He handed the still speechless Shaw a small piece of paper.

Shaw stared at the piece of paper and then at his bosses face. Finally he managed to speak again: "Sir, I'm on my way." He clenched his hand, the address safe inside it, and he was soon on his way back to his desk to get his gun, before he left for the address.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Notes:** This is what happens when I'm supposed to be studying... ;-)

XI.

Scotty was beginning to feel stupid. Here he was, sitting in his car and waiting for the two FBI agents to arrive. _Stay by the house, but wait for us until you go in_, Taylor had said; like Scotty couldn't do this by himself, although, he had to admit that the fact that he was now standing here by the house, in which Lilly could be as a prisoner, was a big breakthrough in the case, but it wasn't his achievement.

_Don't tell anybody about this,_ Taylor had added, and Scotty had soon found out why after the other man had given him the address. This house belonged to Stephen Anderson who was the owner of _Anderson Medical Technology_, a company founded by his father in the 1980's. The family had run the company since then, and although it wasn't as huge as others, the Anderson family, and especially Stephen Anderson, were pretty well-known and influential people in this part of the country.

And that meant they would have to be sure that Lilly was inside otherwise they would never get a chance to prove that Stephen Anderson was involved in this, and that meant they would have to enter the house illegally.

Slowly all the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together: so Anderson was the man who helped Dr. van Snyder do his experiments on human beings, and the motive behind that was probably just money. Obviously, after van Snyder's death, his wife had decided to put an end to it and for whatever reason she had contacted Lilly for help.

Scotty knitted his brows. There were just two more questions left; why had Mrs. van Snyder waited until after her husband's death before she had contacted Lilly? Had she wanted to protect her husband, or had she just found out about it afterwards?

Maybe Lilly would know that.

The second question – and this was bothering Scotty even more – was where was Mrs van Snyder now? There were only two possibilities Scotty could think of; either she was inside this house, like Lilly, or she was dead.

Or was she maybe hiding somewhere before they could get her?

And who were _they_? Thinking about what had happened during the last two days there had to be more people involved in this, but maybe Lilly would have more information.

_If she was still alive._

Quickly Scotty pushed this thought away; they couldn't have killed Lilly, but then again she probably knew a lot about what had been going on, so maybe… but maybe they had kept her alive to try and find out who else knew.

A car came to a halt behind his and Scotty knitted his brows; he couldn't see who was sitting inside the other car, but he was sure it wasn't Taylor or Spade. This was a different car and that could only mean somebody else knew that he was here. Before Scotty had time to look at the plate a man got out of the car and he recognised him as Special Agent Dirk Shaw, the man who had questioned him the day before.

So Shaw was involved too?

Cursing silently Scotty tried to think of something to do. _Think quicker, Valens_, he told himself, as he watched through the mirror as Shaw approached his car. Should he try to overpower Shaw? But no, there wasn't much chance of that; Shaw had already drawn his weapon and would be ready to shoot at any movement Scotty made.

So the other possibility was to lure Shaw away so Taylor and Spade could get into the house without trouble. This seemed to make more sense to Scotty.

There wasn't any more time to think because Shaw was standing by his door, gun aimed at Scotty, and motioning for him to open the window.

Scotty did as he was told.

"Where are Taylor and Spade?" Shaw asked in a cold voice.

"Not here", Scotty answered. He saw anger flicker through Shaw's eyes and quickly added: "But I can take you to them."

"Alright, get out of the car, slowly, I want to see your hands all the time…"

Scotty hesitated a moment, not moving at all. "I don't think you got me right; I said they are _not here_. Get in the car and I'll take you to them."

For a moment it looked as if the plan was working, but then Shaw shook his head and grinned "You're not expecting me to fall for this are you?" His hands disappeared into his pocket and reappeared holding his phone. "Look, we'll find them with or without your help. I'm going to call for some backup here, and while my colleagues are searching for Taylor and Spade I'll arrest you and take you back to the office so you can start telling me what you have done to Detective Rush."

"What we… what we did to Detective Rush?" For a moment Scotty was taken aback. Was the man blaming _him_ for Lilly's disappearance? Or was he maybe just bluffing, using it as an excuse to arrest him? But why would he do that? If he was involved and he wanted Scotty out of the way he would just have to kill him, or lock him up.

Suddenly it came to him; Shaw was not involved, _they_ were probably just using him to make it seem like somebody was investigating Lilly's disappearance. Shaw was probably supposed to find him, Taylor and Spade and made sure that _they_ could get their hands on them and then get them out of the way!

So Shaw was maybe on his side.

_But how the hell am I going to convince him?_ Scotty thought. He looked at the other man who was still aiming his gun at him, with his cell phone pressed to his ear, waiting for somebody to answer.

_Damn!_ Once he had called for back-up there wouldn't be much chance for them to free Lilly. Scotty had to make sure that Shaw wouldn't get that far…

"Drop the weapon!" a loud voice interrupted Scotty's thoughts. He craned his neck to see whose voice it was and realised with relief that Taylor and Spade had arrived. Both of them were approaching with their weapons drawn and aimed at Shaw, who was clearly distracted by the change in the situation.

Deciding that now was his only chance to do something, he pushed the car door open with a quick and forceful movement into Shaw who was standing too close. Scotty got out of the car quickly preparing to overpower Shaw when he heard the noise of a gun being fired, and saw the FBI agent fall to the ground.

………………

Lilly was nervous. She had no idea how much time she had spent in her little prison now, and what was worse; she didn't know how much more time would pass before _they_ decided that they didn't need her anymore and got rid of her.

She had spent what felt like days lying on the small bed, wondering if somebody was looking for her, and – more importantly – if somebody would find her here. She was also worried about Danny, and Scotty too of course, although she wasn't sure if _they_ knew that she had tried to reach Scotty that night.

But _they_ did know that she had contacted Danny. Over the last couple of hours, since the man had told her that they knew, she had expected him to come back again and tell her that Danny was dead or something.

All the waiting and not knowing had begun to make her feel like she was going crazy. It didn't help that she hadn't had anything to eat or any sleep in hours.

The room she was locked in was small, and it seemed to be getting smaller all the time. Lilly had tried to get the door open earlier, when she had guessed that she was alone in the house, she had even tried to kick it down, willing to try anything to get out of here.

She was about to start trying again. She hadn't heard any sound in the house for a while, so maybe she was alone again. At least she could try to do something.

………………

Shaw didn't seem seriously wounded, but Scotty felt rage build up inside him. He stared at the man on the ground, his fists clenched around the gun and the cell phone he had picked up then he directed his angry stare at Taylor who had shot the man. He and Spade had almost reached them.

"Damn it, what were you thinking!" he couldn't help but shout at the other man. "I could've overpowered him without hurting him, and now we have to make sure he gets medical attention."

Taylor frowned. He didn't seem happy with the situation either, and when he answered he spoke in a small voice that didn't sound like the man Scotty had met the previous day. "It didn't look like you were going to make it, so I shot."

"Great, and now what?" Scotty spat. "I mean, we can't call an ambulance right now, so what're we going to do?"

"One of us has to take him to the hospital" Spade interjected in a calm voice. "That would give the other two some more time."

"Who?"

"I could do it", she volunteered. "You'll have to help me get him into the car."

Both men were thankful for Spade's offer, but Scotty wondered why she had made it. Of course he was happy that he didn't have to take the responsibility for Taylor's mistake.

_Was it really a mistake?_

All he knew was that for some weird reason Taylor seemed to be more anxious than he or Spade were to find Lilly.

While Scotty was still thinking about it, Spade had got the car she and Taylor had come in. It had been parked just around the corner, a short walk from the scene. She drove as close to the wounded man as possible and then got out of the car.

"Okay, let's get him in there."

"I wouldn't do that" a voice said behind Scotty. He turned around just to find himself looking into the barrel of a gun for the second time within half an hour. A man was holding it. He was wearing a suit and an expensive looking coat, and Scotty was almost sure he had seen the man before. He just couldn't place him. It wasn't Stephen Anderson, though, that much was for sure. And it confirmed Scotty's assumption that more people had to be involved in this.

However, their opponent seemed to know who they were. He ran his eyes over all three of them and finally rested them on Taylor.

"It's over. Put your hands where I can see them."

Scotty sighed as he and the two agents obeyed.


	12. Chapter 12

XII.

This was a bad situation Danny decided, as he stood propped against the car, feeling hands running over him, searching for weapons. The man hadn't come alone and there was no chance that he, Sam or Det. Valens – _What was his first name again?_ – were going to get out of this any time soon.

When the man, who was obviously in charge, finally decided that the three of them were not going to make any trouble, he hand-cuffed them all and then said: "Okay, let's get going."

"Go where?" Danny asked, although he knew.

Knitting his brows the man said: "Inside of course. Weren't you looking for Detective Rush? Well, you've found her."

"So Lilly _is_ here."

"Lilly?" The man kept staring at Danny, who cursed himself; but, to hell with it, it had slipped out and he couldn't change it. His opponent suddenly started to grin. "Oh, I see. How could I have been so stupid? I knew there had to be a reason why you stuck your nose into this, and you were very stubborn, too, Agent Taylor, but not very smart."

Danny didn't answer so the man continued:

"I knew that Det. Rush had probably already asked you for help. I also knew that she was close to getting us. Lucky for her she did involve you – else she would be dead already. Now move!" He turned around to two of his men and then nodded towards Agent Shaw: "Get him inside."

Danny had experienced the feeling of having a gun pointed at him a couple of times in his entire career, and he couldn't say that it wasn't making him nervous, but he kept reminding himself that they couldn't just shoot him. Or Sam. Or Det. Valens – _Scott. Wasn't that his first name?_

"You can't kill us."

The man turned to around at Sam's words and so did Danny.

"You can't kill us", Sam repeated, her voice firm. She looked the man straight into the eyes, not even a bit scared.

It wasn't the first time Danny had been impressed by her coolness and her courage.

"I can't?"

"No. There are too many people who know exactly where we are. You can't kill our whole team, can you? You won't get away with this."

"We'll see."

They had reached the house and the man opened the front door. As they entered Danny took a good look around. So… this was the house of Stephen Anderson. Not bad, but he hadn't expected anything else. Although he himself couldn't remember ever having heard of the man, Martin had told him enough on the phone to judge him.

_Hell, just the fact that Victor Fitzgerald is a friend of this family is reason enough!_

The man ordered them to go upstairs, and Danny's stomach began to feel queasy. Was he taking them to Lilly? Would they find her upstairs, maybe hurt? Was she still alive? He suddenly felt ashamed that he hadn't managed to get her out of this. Looking at Valens he guessed that he was feeling the same, if maybe for other reasons.

One of the other men was walking ahead of them. When they had reached the top of the stairs he walked down the hall until he stopped in front of a door. He took a key that was hung up on the wall and used it to unlock the door.

"Get in there", he ordered.

………………

As Lilly heard the key being turned in the lock she began to tense up. Maybe they would bring her some food, but she was more scared that they would bring her some bad news.

What she wasn't expecting was a fellow prisoner.

And not just any prisoner.

"Danny?"

There he was; alive and obviously not hurt, and before she knew it she was hurrying towards him to wrap her arms around his neck, relieved. Then she noticed Scotty standing right behind Danny. Suddenly the moment of uncontrolled emotion was over, and Lilly was confused.

Finally, a third person entered the small room, which seemed even smaller now. A blonde woman; Lilly had seen during her visit to New York the previous week, but she couldn't remember her name.

After the blonde woman, another man entered the room and Lilly realised that she knew _him_. "Agent Willis. I knew it. I knew you were involved in this."

"Yes, but you will never be able to prove it", Willis said confidently, and smiled.

"What's going to happen to us?" The woman, whose name Lilly couldn't remember, asked.

Lilly eyed her closely. Long blonde hair, good-looking and tough, it would seem. She was going to either like her or hate her.

If there was going to be enough time to find out.

Willis shrugged in answer to the question. "I don't know, yet. I will have to think of some way. Until then, get comfortable."

After that Willis disappeared and the door was locked. Lilly found three pairs of anxious looking eyes were staring at her.

"Are you alright?" Scotty finally asked.

Lilly nodded slowly. "I will be once I get out of here."

"You knew this man?" the woman asked.

Lilly nodded. "Yes." She looked at all three of them. "How much do you know then?"

There was a moment of silence before Scotty spoke: "I think we know pretty much everything about the experiments and Anderson's company; what we don't know is who else is involved in this; we don't know any names."

Lilly snorted. "Oh, I can give you names. Mrs van Snyder… you probably know who she is, right?" Lilly paused and saw three heads nodding in agreement; she continued, "Mrs van Snyder found a lot of patients' files, letters, printed emails and other stuff. I read them so I know who is involved in this."

"And, now who has them?" Danny asked in a low voice, moving towards her. Suddenly Lilly was very aware of how close he was, and although the situation was still bad she felt happy that he was okay. She lifted her head slightly to look into his eyes. She could see concern in them and gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's all safely locked away in a safety deposit box." Lilly was still staring into Danny's eyes, when suddenly she almost felt like laughing. "So", she said in a sarcastic tone, "all we will have to do is get out of here alive and then we can prove all of this."

She couldn't help but grin a little, and even more when Danny grinned back and opened his mouth to say something.

"Hmmm." The other woman cleared her throat loudly, not giving Danny a chance to speak. "So… if you have proof then why didn't you take it to the authorities right away? Why wait until they had you? And why did you contact _us_?" For some reason she emphasised the word 'us'.

Lilly hesitated a moment, not sure why she had done what she had. Finally she sighed and said: "I guess I just wanted to be sure that those women did really exist. That somebody was missing them. That what Mrs. van Snyder told me wasn't just a whole load of crap and I was going to embarrass myself by believing it. By the way, do you know where she is?"

A long moment passed before Danny managed to answer: "We think that she is probably dead."

After that there was a long moment of silence. Everybody was finally settling down; Lilly had taken a seat on the bed, right next to Danny, and again she was very aware of how close he was as he placed his hand so that it was touching hers, even though he had to sit with his body skewed as his hands were still cuffed behind his back.

And not just Lilly noticed; both Scotty and the blonde woman were staring at them, but neither said a word.

………………

Sam guessed that about an hour must have passed since they had been locked up in the room when suddenly there was noise in the house. She could hear people running around, loud voices, and then somebody was coming up the stairs towards their room. A moment later a key was put in the lock and the door swung open to reveal a very familiar, very concerned face.

"Jack?"

Jack lowered his gun, an expression of relief spreading across his face as he eyed the four people inside the room.

"Jack? Have you found them?" a voice called from the hallway and Sam gasped, surprised.

"_Viv_?"

A moment later Vivian walked into the room, smiling. "Well, looks like we were still in time. We were afraid you were dead by now."

Sam ran over to hug both, Jack and Vivian; she couldn't remember ever having been so happy to see them.

"But how…? Why…?

Jack laughed when he saw the surprised faces. "Well, lucky for you, I decided – _unlike you_ – to be honest and open with my boss, and so I told Olczyk the truth about why you weren't there."

"You did?"

Jack nodded but before he could say anymore Vivian spoke for him: "Turns out that the FBI has been chasing after Dr. van Snyder for a while now, but nobody was ever able to prove anything. When we told Olczyk what you were doing he said that you were probably in danger, because he knew that there were some influential people inside the FBI involved in this."

"How did he know we were in danger?" Danny wanted to know. He let Vivian take the hand-cuffs off him and rubbed his hurting wrist, while he was thinking. "And how did you know where we… oh wait… I understand. Martin told you, right?"

Jack nodded and started to explain: "Yesterday Olczyk got a call from Agent Willis from the Philadelphia office telling him that you two…" he pointed his finger at Danny and then at Sam, "…were working on a case you weren't supposed to work on; the disappearance of Det. Lilly Rush, and when I told Olczyk all about why we thought Det. Rush was missing he put two and two together and figured out that Willis would be after you. Apparently there have been suspicions about Agent Willis for a long time too…"

"… let me guess, no proof, again?" Sam interrupted.

Det. Rush spoke up: "I've got proof, but right now I would like to get out of here."

Vivian smiled at her. When Sam followed the direction of Vivian's eyes, she saw that Rush was still touching Danny's hand and although they both seemed to think that nobody else had noticed, Sam was pretty sure that everybody in the room was aware of it.

"Okay, no problem, we can take you to the office so you can give a statement, and then you can head home."

With a deep sigh, Rush walked towards the door of what had been her prison for over thirty hours now. "Let's go", she said, happily.

And the others followed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Notes:** I got this ready for posting. Why would I let you wait? Please enjoy; it's the last chapter!

XIII.

Martin looked up from his work as he noticed the rest of his team coming towards the conference table. They were all looking exhausted, but content. He had received a call earlier from Jack saying that Sam and Danny were alright and…

_Oh._

"Where's Danny?"

Sam, Jack and Vivian reached the table and sat down; they were all looking at one another and Martin had the feeling that they didn't really know what to tell him. He became nervous.

Finally Sam spoke: "He's still in Philadelphia."

Frowning, Martin asked: "Why? He's okay, isn't he?"

Now Sam was grinning. "Oh, yes, he sure is."

"What do you mean?" Martin asked.

"He was just a bit worried about Det. Rush", Vivian explained now.

"Worried? Is she alright? I thought you said they hadn't hurt her." Confused, Martin looked from one to another. Sam was still grinning, Vivian was laughing now, and even Jack's face showed a hint of amusement.

"She should be alright now", Sam said. When Martin kept staring at her she continued: "It's just that she was locked up in a tiny room for thirty hours and had to be afraid that she would be killed any time, and that can really make a person get a little bit scared, you know."

"So Danny just wanted to make sure that she was okay, before he left her alone…" Vivian added.

"I don't understand… is there something going on between the two of them?"

Now they were all laughing, even Jack.

"God, Martin, I thought you were never going to figure it out!" Sam managed to say in between fits of laughter.

"Sorry, but how am I supposed to know?" Martin tried to argue, but soon gave it up as he felt a grin spreading across his own face. "So Danny's stayed in Philadelphia, huh?" The others nodded and Martin looked at Jack. "You okay with that?"

"I don't have a problem", Jack said in an amused tone. "As long as he is back for his appointment with Dr. Harris tomorrow, I am absolutely fine with the fact that he's taking a little time off. It'll do him good, plus, he still needs to be cleared for duty after shooting at Special Agent Shaw."

"That shouldn't be much of a problem", Sam interjected. "Shaw was threatening Det. Valens, and Danny and I had no other chance but to stop him."

"Did Valens say the same?" Jack asked.

Sam nodded and without hesitation she said: "Yes, there's absolutely no doubt about that. By the way, how is Agent Shaw?

"As far as I know, he's going to be alright. It was a through and through, in the shoulder. He's in hospital now, but will be able to leave there soon." Pausing, Jack suddenly grinned. "I just hope for Danny's sake that they never have to work together again."

Everyone was laughing. Finally Jack looked at his watch; it was late in the afternoon. Wrapping things up in Philadelphia and coming back had taken quite a bit of time. Martin wondered if he was going to send them all home now but instead Jack suggested: "Why don't we all go and get something to eat? This was one hell of a day, and I don't see why the paperwork can't wait until tomorrow. Plus, I have news for you."

"Are we going to have to wait until we eat before you tell us?" Sam asked.

Jack sighed. "No, I might as well tell you now. I found a new member for the team."

"What?" Sam and Vivian sat with their mouth gaping open, but Martin merely sighed and lowered his head. He hadn't wanted to think about that since Jack had told him, but as it seemed inevitable, he knew he had better get used to the thought. After a moment he looked up again at Jack.

"Who is it?"

"Her name is Elena Delgado and she will start here next week."

"Well, that was quick", Martin commented.

Jack nodded, agreeing. "Yes, she was here for the interview yesterday, and she seemed right for the job."

Knitting his brows, Martin suddenly remembered something. "What time was she here?"

Shrugging Jack answered. "Around 3.30pm, maybe 4.00 pm? I don't know. Why?"

"I don't know, just a thought", Martin said, and when his eyes met Sam's he knew that she was thinking the same. _I think, I just saw my ex-girlfriend_… Danny had said that as he had arrived back from Dr. Harris' office, hadn't he?

Now, was it possible that…?

Vivian interrupted his thoughts: "Jack, why were you looking for a new member? I mean, nobody's leaving are they?"

"No, but I think it would be good to have another pair of hands to help out. We just saw how quickly the team can be reduced in numbers… and I don't want to have to put you all through something like this again. Now, let's go, I'm starving."

While Jack and Vivian were walking ahead of them, still discussing the matter, Martin gave Sam a look and asked: "You think the same as I think?"

"What, about the new agent?"

Martin nodded. "It could be… couldn't it?"

"Yes, it could be…"

"So it looks like we're in for a lot of 'fun', doesn't it?"

Sam hesitated, before she finally shrugged and shook her head. "I don't think so. I don't think that anything will be able to change Danny's mood at the moment, not even a bitchy ex-girlfriend, if that's who she is."

"I hope so", Martin said.

Sam grinned: "Trust me."

………………

"So… what do you want to eat?" Lilly heard Danny call from her kitchen. She turned down the volume of the TV and got up from the couch. She walked into the kitchen and smiled as she saw Danny. When they had arrived back at her place, after giving their statements at the Philadelphia FBI office, they had both changed into some fresh clothes but Danny had found that he didn't have any t-shirts with him and so he was wearing a white dress-shirt that was half-tucked into a pair of loose-fitting jeans. He looked cute.

"You don't have to cook for me", Lilly said.

"No way, you gotta be starving", he said, shaking his head adamantly. "And knowing you…" He grinned. "Besides, I'm hungry too, and I'll get nasty if I don't get any food soon."

"We could order something", Lilly suggested.

"Does that mean you don't trust my cooking skills?"

"No, it just means, that I don't have anything here, so cooking would mean that we have to go shopping first and I don't think I'm up for that. All I wanna do is sit on the couch and try to realise that I am back at home."

Danny smiled. "Okay, let's order something. I couldn't find anything in here anyway, except cat food."

"Yuck", said Lilly.

A few minutes later they were both sitting on her couch, waiting for their food, and the TV was turned on again, but neither of them were paying attention to it.

"I am glad that you came to look for me", Lilly said after a while.

Danny looked at her and their eyes met.

"They would have killed me sooner or later."

"I am glad you turned to me for help", Danny said. He had a serious expression in his eyes, and Lilly remembered how much she loved to look into his eyes, even when they were looking at her like that.

"So… can you believe that this Dr. van Snyder kidnapped those women to use them for experiments? With _their eyes_?" she finally asked.

Shaking his head Danny said: "Not really, it's horrible. And what you think he did to those women afterwards? Killed them?"

Lilly nodded slowly. "Yes. I don't think he would have left any of them alive."

They were both silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts, neither of them was paying any attention to the TV and finally Lilly turned it off. The situation was getting uncomfortable and she realised that she didn't know how to act around Danny.

Memories came back of when she had been to New York, and she tried to sort out her feelings for him. It was difficult, though, because they had never really sorted out what kind of relationship they had. Lilly couldn't even say if they were friends. She let him get close to her, but had pushed him away again just as quickly, and he had done the same.

Luckily for her, the doorbell rang and their food arrived.

They ate in silence. When she finished Lilly couldn't hold back a yawn.

"You should get some sleep", Danny said. "You probably didn't sleep at all last night, did you?"

"Not much", Lilly admitted. She had been much too scared to sleep. "I think you're right, I'll go to bed, now. Um… what about you, do you want to stay here? I mean, you don't have to although I think it would be nice if I knew somebody was here tonight. But if you don't want to…"

Danny grinned. "I don't mind. Your couch looks comfortable enough, and I don't feel like going anywhere else right now."

Lilly nodded. "Okay, I'll just fetch you some sheets from the bedroom."

Soon the couch was set up, they had said goodnight to each other and Lilly had almost reached her bedroom door when she turned and headed back into the living-room.

"Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"I… um… "

_C'mon Rush, don't be such a coward!_

"…you don't have to sleep on the couch. I mean… I wouldn't mind…if… uh… if somebody was with me to wake me up if I got night mares." _Fantastic, Lilly, great job; now he'll think you're crazy!_

But Danny smiled and started to collect the sheet from the sofa. "No problem."

………………

Lilly woke up, breathing heavily. For a moment she was so stiff she couldn't move, so she just lay there, trying to calm down.

_It was just a dream._

She hadn't really expected to get night mares; she had seen too much in her job to let things get to her that easily.

But now she was suddenly happy that she wasn't alone, even if Danny was still fast asleep next to her. She turned over so she could face him. There hadn't been anything between them when they had gone to bed; they had just laid down next to each other, but it had made Lilly feel strangely comfortable to know that he was there.

For a while she just watched him sleep. He was lying half on his side half on his stomach, arms wrapped around the pillow with his face turned towards her. The moonlight that came through the curtains brought enough light into the room for Lilly to see and she smiled at how relaxed he looked when he was asleep.

Feeling a sudden urge to make sure that she wasn't dreaming and that he was really there Lilly reached out to touch his bare arm, running her hands over his skin gently. It felt solid and very real to her, and she sighed and relaxed.

Soon she got sleepy again. She moved to get into a comfortable position again, ready to fall back to sleep.

"You okay?"

She smiled at his whisper. "Fine", she said. "Just woke up."

"Bad dream?"

"U-huh", she mumbled.

"C'mere." He held up his arm and before Lilly realised what she was doing she turned over and moved closer so that her back was pressed against his stomach and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her to him.

"There, that's better", he whispered into her ear.

Although it was warm in the room, and lying so close to together made it warmer, Lilly couldn't help but agree. She snuggled deeper into the embrace and decided that after this they would really have to figure out what exactly was going on between them and how they wanted to continue.

_But that can wait until tomorrow, _was the last she thought before she fell asleep.

………………

**Author's Notes:** So… that was finally the end of the second part of the Cold Case story. I hope you like it! Please leave a review and let me know ;-)

I'm not sure if this the end of the story or if there will be a third part some time, but I am pretty sure that if there will be a third part it will be a Cold Case story; so I will put it in the Cold Case section. It will problaby only have Danny in it it, or maybe Sam, as well. If you think, it might still be interesting for you, you can let me know as well; it might have influence on my decision!

Okay, last but not least: I have to thank you for your reviews. They are really helpful! And special thanks also to MARIALISA for betaing!


	14. Chapter 14

**- Epilogue -**

The sun was shining through the window, warming her face. Still sleepy, Lilly opened one eye, unable to ignore that night had turned into day any longer. It was the most beautiful October weather; outside the sky was a brilliant blue and the leaves on the tree next to her bedroom window had turned a deep red; it was not the kind of day anyone would want to miss by spending it in bed.

Well, not if they were alone in bed.

Which Lilly was. For a moment she lay still, a frown on her face, wondering why it felt so strange to be alone in bed. Starting to feel uncomfortable she rearranged the blanket and turned over; as she did she heard the voice:

"Good morning…"

She wasn't sure if it was the words or the sight that met her eyes that made everything that had happened come back to her. Both eyes open wide now, she stared at Danny, who was sat on a chair by her bed, watching her in her confusion with an amused expression on his face.

"Hey?" she mumbled, and knitted her brows. "What are you doing there?"

Danny shrugged, his expression changed into a bashful one, as he admitted: "Just watching you sleep."

"Oh", Lilly said and looked him up and down. He was almost completely naked except for the pair of boxers he had slept in, and although she appreciated the sight, she was also a little bit confused. "Why are you half-naked?"

"Because…" Danny paused and broke eye contact, and Lilly could have sworn that he was blushing a bit.

"Because?" She asked and now it was her turn to be amused.

"Because I've spent the better part of the last hour watching you and wondering what to do", he said, and his eyes met hers again. "You know, you really put me into a difficult situation."

"How's that?"

Danny let out a sigh and glanced at Lilly's alarm clock. "Because I have to leave in half an hour and I wanted to talk to you before I go. But I wasn't sure if I should wake you… I mean, with what you've been through lately… So I've been sitting here, trying to decide what to do."

"You could come back to bed, for starters" Lilly said, not able to keep a stupid smile from spreading over her face.

"I would love to, but I really think we need to talk", Danny replied.

Lilly could tell he was tempted. "We can talk later", she suggested. Even though she knew he had to leave all she could think about at the moment was that the man she hadn't been able to stop thinking about for the last ten days – ever since she had met him – was sitting on a chair next to her bed, almost naked.

"You're not making this easy for me, Lilly", Danny said with a smile.

She looked at him, still amused but also a little bit aroused as she smiled back and spoke in a low voice: "Well, maybe if you put your clothes on earlier, you and I would not be in this situation now."

Before she knew what she was doing she reached for his hand that lay on his thigh. It was clear that he was tempted but he managed to resist, though. When she tried to pull him close to her he simply leaned forward to kiss her softly, but remained sitting on the chair with his elbows propped on his knees and his face still close to hers, even after the kiss had ended.

Lilly gave up and let herself sink back onto her pillow. "So, tell me again, why do we have to talk this through now?"

"Because I have to leave to get back to New York in… twenty-five minutes, now."

"Can't you just stay here?"

Danny smiled. "As much as I would like to, I am afraid, I have to return to work for the rest of the week. And I… uh…", he hesitated, then, meeting her eyes reluctantly, continued: "I have an appointment this afternoon that I can't miss."

"An appointment, huh?" Lilly raised an eyebrow at him but he didn't say anything, so she waited to see if he would elaborate. She did have the feeling that he wanted to tell her after all, he just still seemed a bit hesitant. "You can tell me if you want to…"

Danny sighed. "It's with the FBI psychologist. I… uh… asked her to help me sort out some feelings I've been having…"

"… about that shooting and what happened to your friend… Martin?" Lilly remembered only vaguely what she had been told about the incident; all she knew was that it had had a great affect on Danny.

He nodded. "Yes… about the shooting and what happened to Martin."

"And that's really important to you, isn't it?" Lilly said, and although she could understand it she couldn't keep the disappointment from her voice.

"Lilly, I…" he interrupted himself, hesitated a moment and then cleared his throat and started again: "Look, I want nothing more than to stay right here with you, but there's a few things that have been bothering me for way too long, and I need to sort them out. And I know that if I don't do it now, I will never do it. I would have just left but I wanted to explain this to you; in person, rather than leaving a note."

Nodding slowly Lilly sat up and took his hand. "I understand", she said. "I hate it, but I understand that you have to go."

"Really?"

"Yes, I do", she promised and leaned in to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. Then she grinned: "Just make sure next time you put your clothes on before you start a conversation like this with me."

Danny grinned. "Okay, I will keep that in mind. By the way, when do you think that next time could be?"

"What, for having a conversation like this? Not too soon I hope", Lilly said laughing.

Danny laughed too. "I didn't mean that", he said.

"I know what you meant."

"So, what's the answer?"

Lilly leaned back against her pillow and cocked her head. "Well… you could… come on Friday night? Or do you have to stay in New York, in case you'll have to work?"

"Actually I do", Danny said, pulling a face. "Still, I might be able to talk to my boss; maybe I can get a few days off – he was trying to persuade me to take some personal time just a couple of days ago."

"You should do that", Lilly said, nodding. "And make sure he lets you off."

Danny laughed. "Okay, I will", he said, glancing quickly at the clock, before he leaned in for another kiss. Their lips met, and Lilly slipped her arms around his neck, enjoying every moment as he held her close, too, and when the kiss ended both found it hard to let go.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Author's Notes:** When I read the end of this story again I felt like there was something missing. So I added this epilogue to make up for that… I guess you don't mind... – and this is _really_

**THE END**

now! ;-)


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